She Walked Away
by Know-It-All-2009
Summary: Hermione Granger loved her family, but she knew that the fate of the Wizarding World lay in their hands. She didn't walk away out of love or hate; she walked away out of a desire to protect them.
1. Humble Beginnings

**She Walked Away**

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**Musical Inspiration: **

**Poets of the Fall**_Carnival of Rust  
_**Placebo **_Twenty Years  
__**Red**__Let it Burn  
_**Taylor Swift**_Safe and Sound  
_**Alana Grace**_Black Roses Red_

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NOTES

This story grew from its original prompt but in the end it will all tie into the prompt; I picked the prompt to use as a one-shot to kick off my writing…and boy did it. **She Walked Away i**s sitting at** Chapter Ninety **that has already been written and is just now getting into the original idea of the fan fiction.

With that being said I will post two chapters a week. One on Sunday, the other on Wednesday; if I get an abnormal (read: high) number of reviews on a particular chapter I will be willing to post outside of my schedule.

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I do not own Harry Potter and Co. That honor goes to J. K. Rowling.

**Prompt: **A person decides to leave their family and never speak to them again. The reason is not love, nor hate.

**WORD COUNT:** Excluding Authoress Note **3,522**

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Chapter One: Humble Beginnings

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It was early January and the library at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was busier than Hermione had ever seen it this year, except towards end of term testing. Her usual table had been taken over by some third year Ravenclaws that you could hardly see over a stack of books which irked her just a little bit, but they were only third years and probably didn't know that since Hermione's first year this table had been dedicated as hers due to the massive amounts of studying she did, she always preferred a quiet corner in the back of the stacks that others were unlikely to visit. The problem now was that there wasn't an open table in sight that hadn't been taken over by OWL or NEWT students, usually Ravenclaws, that where studying with all their might for tests that where four to six months away.

Giving her table up as a lost cause she happened to run across Madam Pince who was restocking shelves as well as watching a mixed group of first year Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws that looked like they were up to something other than homework or studying for tests. Most people avoided the library once OWL and NEWT studying season had started since the 5th and 7th year students where liable to bite someone's head off if they breathed too loudly, and lord help them if they actually spoke.

Hermione approached the stern librarian and was glad to see a small smile cross her face. Irma Pince had learned that Hermione was one of the students at Hogwarts that could be trusted with a book beyond exception.

"Madam Pince, I can't seem to find an open table anywhere." She said, hoping the librarian would be able to help her out and when she saw Madam Pince smile at her, she knew she had come to the right conclusion.

"Come with me." She said, leading Hermione through the tall bookcases of books at a brisk pace before they made a sharp turn at the _Wizarding Legislation _section and then entered a door that Hermione had seen but had never bothered to explore before.

Beyond the door the entered in was a hallway that made a square around the main body of the room and there where countless doors on the walls. Madam Pince kept walking until she came to a room labeled '_32G'_ which she unlocked with a wave of her wand.

"We have study corrals but try and keep them to only those working on OWLs and NEWTs. The password for this door is '_Libra Draconis' _it is yours as long as you are here at Hogwarts, most of the OWL and NEWT students know about them but don't bother asking for them unless the tables are full. There is a strict limit of three people per room. You may check out books to have placed in here when you know you'll need them ahead of time. If you know the general subject of the paper I can have books pulled that way." She said, pausing to take a breath before continuing. "The books checked out to this room do not leave this room but you may check out from general circulation as you wish and I will extend to you the curtsey of increasing the number of books you may check out from five to ten. You take good care of your books so I know there will be no concern about their safety. The study corrals open two hours earlier than the general library and close two hours later than the general library so on weekends that would give you sixteen hours to work if that is your desire. It is recommended that you purchase some extra supplies while in Hogsmeade this afternoon so you may leave them in here. I will also add another bookcase in here so that you may bring your own books and keep them separate from the library books, even though the library books are marked, it is better to be safe than sorry. Might I suggest an extendable charm on your bag before it breaks it seems. You'll find what you need in the Charms section under _Study Charms_ if my memory serves me right." She said, giving the girl a genuine smile before she turned to re-enter the rest of the library and find out who had started yelling just outside the study corrals.

Once Madam Pince left her to her own devices Hermione began her ritual of setting up her table for maximum studying efficiency. She first set her bag down in the chair next to the table she had planned on sitting in before sitting in the chair, making sure it was exactly two inches away from the table before opening her school bag.

First came the parchment which was placed in front of her and to the left, aligned flush with the table edge. Next, the books, which were stacked to the right of the parchment in individual stacks by subject matter. Next came two ink wells which were placed above the books but closer to the parchment and then three quills where aligned across the top of the parchment and then her planner was placed to the left of her parchment stack.

Once her ritual was complete she pulled out her spiral notebook that held her book list for her essays that she had to write. Leaving her studying set up she quickly browsed the shelves pulling down a stack of books that would make any other student quiver before she returned to her precious study corral and placed them in their own stack, starting with the '_A_' subjects on bottom all the way to '_P_' for Potions before she began the task of setting up a revision plan for herself and her two boys, who were going to fail their OWLs if they didn't start studying harder than they were.

A glance at her wristwatch told her the boys would be looking for her since it was almost time to go to Hogsmeade Village. Leaving her things in the study corral except for a copy of her running book list as well as a few school supplies she needed, just managing to catch the boys as they started to exit the castle.

"Do you think you could pick a few things up for me?" she asked, laughing when both Harry and Ron jumped in surprise.

"Sure, what all do you need?" Harry asked, balking slightly at the length of the list that he was handed, knowing it would take the entirety of their trip to pull the books.

"I've already owled them my order, all you have to do is pick it up, although I do need you to stop at the quill shops, although you could probably just pick up a few quills when you get yours Harry. Other than that I just need you to stop at _Tomes and Scrolls, _as well as the stationary store." She said, handing him a handful of Galleons before she waved them on their way, not wanting to keep them any longer than she had imposed upon them, it was supposed to be a free day for them where they could go look at Qudditch Supplies and visit Zonk's Joke Shop. That was why she had thought to send an owl ahead of them to make sure that all the books she needed would be provided for her, as well as to make it easier on the boys.

Making her way back to the library Hermione made a stop by the Charms section to find the extendable charm so that she could apply it to her school bag. It would be nice to be able to carry around as many books as she could ever want. Find the correct book she pulled it down before making her way to her private study corral, glad that there where permanent silencing charms and anti-eavesdropping charms placed around the room as she found the correct spell, or spells rather, that would enable her to carry as many possible books and writing equipment as she desired.

The first spell that was applied was the weightless charm which immediately made a difference in the weight of her school bag. From there she placed a charm that was supposed to keep it from ripping at the seams and then her final charm was the extendable charm which was a series of charms so complex any other student wouldn't have been able to accomplish it as just a fifth year; a few of them where NEWT level charms. Once they charms where all in place she began the process of taking tedious notes on the process, thinking that it would come in handy down the road.

By the time the boys returned from Hogsmeade, Hermione had returned to the Gryffindor Common Room, grinning from ear to ear when they walked in with a shrunken box from _Tomes and Scrolls _that had her name written all over it.

"Would you like to come with me and see the study corrals I found? Madam Pince let me check one out for my duration of stay at Hogwarts even though they're usually reserved for OWL or NEWT students, she said not enough students asked for them this year so one of them is now reserved for me." She said, accepting the box from the bookstore, itching to go through it but decided on waiting until she was in either her room or her study corral.

"Is it quieter than the main floor of the library?" Ron of all people asked, however, it was well known that during OWLs and NEWT studying season the library got louder when it should have actually gotten quieter. This was due to a huge influx of students as they started feeling the pressures of their exams creeping up on them.

"Yes and because the room is enclosed you can cast a privacy charm and a '_Quietus' _and not have to listen to the noise from the outside." She said, surprised that Ron was actually showing interest, although his mother _had_ threatened to kill him if he didn't pass all of his OWLs this year, including Divination of all things. "Madam Pince said we could share a corral if we chose to since there is a limit of three students per study corral." She said; glad to see that even Ron was shaking his head in approval of her idea.

"Sorry mate, but I'm going to have to pull a Hermione until OWLs are finished or there will be nothing left of me to return for Sixth Year courses." Ron said, looking at Harry who grimaced in sympathy.

"Unfortunately Ron that threat didn't apply just to you; I received a thinly veiled threat covering the same thing from your mother and Sirius as well as Remus. So I'm in the same boat as all of you." Harry said.

"Let's go to the corral and then we'll discuss the details once we're inside. The common room is starting to fill up again." Hermione said, and as the boys looked around they realized that was a correct assumption before they started making the rather long trek to the library. Two moving staircases and a trick step later found them entering the library and making their way back to the Magical Legislation section and taking a sharp turn into a door neither of the boys had noticed before at their time here at Hogwarts.

Once inside their personal study carrel they helped Hermione shelf the books she had purchased each picking out a few to take back the common room with them before they settled in to start working on revision of four and a half years' worth of material.

"This is ridiculous. There is no way we can go over all of this by the time NEWTs arrive." Ron said, letting his head hit the desk with a groan, which Harry was inclined to agree with.

"Yes we can. We have five months until we sit our OWLs and we have five years' worth of material to cover. If we cover a year's worth of material a month per class we'll finish up with two weeks to spare to go over test-taking skills and things of that sort." Hermione said, as she pulled forth a 3-inch, three ring binder that she had set up over the Christmas or Yule holidays. Flipping to the first divider where three pre-typed study schedules lay waiting for them.

Handing Ron and Harry their schedules she looked over her schedule which was packed to the gills since she took eleven classes while the boys only took nine classes.

"You study one subject a day, except for Saturday and Sunday where you study two, but you will have to cover a year's worth of material per month. I doubt either of you kept your old notes?" she asked, not surprised when they shook their heads no.

Sighing Hermione pulled out her file folder before enlarging all of the Transfiguration notes she had taken from First Year up to what they had gone over so far in Fifth Year and making them a copy before doing the same with all their other course notes.

"I can't help you with in-class Divination notes as I dropped the subject but if you can show me a copy of your course outline I can throw together some notes for you later tonight." She said, not surprised when the boys immediately took her up on the offer, not realizing how thin this would stretch her until it was testing time. "Alright then, if you'll hand me that outline I'll get started putting together something for you to go on, keep in mind that some of what you go over may or may not be on your OWL which is why this is so stressful you have no way of narrowing it down by any means. True you could look at the review of last year's OWL but it's technically illegal to reveal the test questions or ask about certain test questions word for word." Hermione said as she made her way from the study corral. "I'll be back. I'm going to go pick up some Divination books to start working on planning out your study schedule." She said as she left with their topic outline in hand.

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Once in the Divination section Hermione took a good look at their topic outline before pulling down three books a piece that where not used within the classroom to give them a good overview of what was on the OWL Divination test. Since Firenze had been hired it seemed like everyone's grades had gone up in the class for those that were actually trying. Since his installation as Divination teacher however, Ron and Harry had started failing their Dream Journals because he could tell that they were making them up. After their first failed journal they asked him what to do if they didn't remember their dreams and he said to leave it blank but to put either a clear quartz crystal or an amethyst crystal underneath their pillow and to look into making either a dream pillow or purchasing a dream catcher. They had done as he had suggested and began recording their dreams as they happened and would be finding out what they made next Friday as that was when their next journals where due.

When Hermione returned she was floating ten Divination books in front of her, letting them fall to the table before her before she began flipping through them and taking notes on what would be a good revision schedule for the boys Divination course.

It took her only an hour to throw together a decent Divination revision schedule for them before merging it with their already completed revision schedule and handing it back to Ron and Harry, who noticed there was very little free time for them, but Mrs. Weasley would _kill _them if they didn't pass all their OWLs and Hermione had still allowed time for their Qudditch Practice and Prefects rounds for Ron.

"This is crazy!" Ron said, not liking the lack of free time he was accustomed to.

"My schedule is heavier than yours, I'm taking three more classes than you are. Besides the stuff up until third year should be quick work and the schedule is flexible enough that you can work ahead if you finish earlier enough." She said, giving Ron a disapproving look as she turned back to her file folder pulling out her History of Magic notes along with her Potions notes before copying them onto blank sheets of parchment for the boys and then doing the same with Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy.

When she handed them to the boys, who were looking at her with something akin to awe that she had kept the notes from when she was eleven she just gave them a look that said 'really' before she spoke.

"That's everything from First Year thru now. Follow the schedule I've created for you and you'll do fine. I'm not completely done with your Divination revision schedule but I'll have that done by Monday at the latest." She said, attempting to turn back to her work once again when Harry stopped her, handing her a shrunken package.

"I picked up a few things for you from Flourish and Blott's that the manager thought you might like. It seems you've made an impression on him since he is constantly pulling books for you." He said, giving her a smile as she grinned like a little girl at Christmas before un-shrinking the package Harry had purchased for her.

Turing her attention back to the texts she had purchased she ran her hand down a few of the spines, most of them where only for reference material and for the purpose of cross-referencing a few things. Seeing all the books she had purchased there she gave a slight nod of her head before turning to the one that Harry had purchased for her.

Inside the package that had, at the least, quadrupled in size, lay several of the more expensive tomes that she had her eye on for a while now covering everything that could possibly come up on their OWL tests. There where reference books for Herbology and Potions ingredients as well as workbooks for Astronomy, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes that where two thousand pages long. Looking through the workbooks Hermione deemed them worthy enough that if they could just work through the workbooks they would be fine and could manage very well for their OWL subjects. The DADA workbook was by far her most favorite, especially since the class was being taught by such a toad of a woman.

"I purchased the workbook for everyone that is in the DA." Harry said, glad that he didn't have to keep his voice down about Dumbledore's Army, they were always worried about members of the Inquisitor's Squad finding out about their secret training sessions.

"It's brilliant Harry. It covers everything we should have learned our first, second, fourth and fifth years here, as well as a review of what Remus was covering. Thank you for the extra books" Hermione said, glad to see that Harry had been somewhat paying attention, even if he always got top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts, as she gave him a tight hug.

"I do come up with some good ideas every now and again." Harry said chuckling slightly, glad that Hermione had liked his idea of purchasing the workbooks for everyone in the DA.

"Start working on your homework Harry, now that you don't have Qudditch Practice anymore it gives you more time to study." Hermione said, wincing when she reminded them that Dolores Umbridge had given him a life-time ban on Qudditch at Hogwarts and had attempted to disband all the Qudditch teams.

Harry just gave her a wry look as he turned his attention back to the paper for Potions that he had been working on, glad for once that Hermione was riding him about his homework. It wouldn't do to be sent to see Umbridge just because he failed to turn in a homework assignment, and Snape would be the one Professor to do such a thing. He had had about enough of that nasty Blood Quill as he could stand. It did help that all the points he was losing because of her where very quick to come back to Gryffindor as the other teachers had seemed to make it a pact to give Harry has many points as possible before the end of the term, hell he had been given points by Professor Sprout for handing her a watering can. If that wasn't manipulating the system he didn't know what was. As Harry turned his attention back to his Potion's essay, Hermione went to work on creating a color-coded revision schedule for them all with as many of the times coinciding as she possibly could manage.


	2. And Time Passes

**She Walked Away **

**CHAPTER TWO:** And Time Passes

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Authoress Note: I'm feeling generous tonight. You may get a third chapter tomorrow but that'll be it until Wednesday. It'll depend on how my **Favs/Follows/Reviews **are doing.

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January soon melted into February and February melted into March as increasingly stressed out Year Five and Year Seven students were known to flip out over the smallest of infractions. Someone sneezed during a Potions practical and all of the fifth year Gryffindors _and _Slytherins made hushing noises as they shot poor Neville the nastiest look he had ever been on the receiving end of to the point that even Professor Snape almost felt sorry for the young boy, _almost _being the operative word.

Soon enough you couldn't walk through the library without finding people who used to spend their weekends outdoors tucked away, behind piles of books you'd never thought you'd see them under; as they were frantically searching for this spell or that incantation, attempting to get it just right.

It got so bad that Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall had decided to host a Saturday session together where they went over the finer points of essay writing for the cost of six Galleons to cover the cost of the books and workbooks they would be using. When the notice was posted almost all the fifth year and seventh year Gryffindors signed up for it, and without a doubt all of Ravenclaw house had, even the little fourth years who were already starting to feel the pressure for their OWLs that where coming in a year's time.

The Saturday session was split off into two rooms. The Ravenclaws and the Gryffindor's where to descend upon the Great Hall after breakfast and stay until lunch time at one where they were released for an hour so everyone could eat and then return to their session from one until five pm. The Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs where to descend upon the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom which would be expanded and desks added to it to encompass almost the entirety of the fifth and seventh year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs and follow the same schedule as the first group of students. While this was going on it had been mentioned that those not in fifth or seventh year would do good to be outside the castle or inside their common rooms as the fifth and seventh year students got more and more anxious as the date of their tests slowly loomed in the horizon.

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When the notice had gone up Hermione and Harry immediately signed all three of them up, as well as Ginny who was starting to feel the pressures of her OWLs the coming year and went to pay the six Galleons that was required to cover their course material; when Hermione and Harry insisted on paying for both Ron and Ginny they were met with a stone wall of protest but where finally able to convince their friends that six Galleons was nothing to them if it helped both of them do better on their OWLs.

The morning of their Saturday session finally came, much too quickly for anyone's liking but no one was likely to complain too loudly as they trekked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, not surprised to see it so packed at seven thirty in the morning with there being the essay writing session this day.

Harry piled his plate high, surprised to see Hermione doing the same thing which caused him to raise an eyebrow in her direction.

"It's not like they'll let us have a snack break now is it?" she said not taking her eyes from her parchment, as she started taking notes, every now and then while munching on a sugar quill. Just as breakfast was about finished the mail arrived and every student who was attending the essay writing session was met with a rather large package landing in their breakfast plates, as most had not been quick enough to catch them.

Harry, luckily enough, had managed to catch his and Hermione's, as she had been seated next to him and tried his best not to laugh when Ron was soon covered in hot cake syrup as his package hit his breakfast plate.

Quickly opening the packages, they left the brown paper on the table, knowing it would disappear with the breakfast dishes, before quickly glancing over the workbook, book, quills and ink they had received as no one had been told before hand what was included in the materials for the session, even those that had asked.

As soon as the mail had finished coming most students made themselves scarce from the Great Hall if they were not sitting in on the session which left all of the Ravenclaws and, surprisingly enough, most of Gryffindor stayed as well, minus the Weasley twins and a few others that Harry recognized from the Qudditch team that where in younger years. All the sixth year students stayed, wanting to get a leg up on studying for their NEWT classes the next year.

Once everyone that was not attending the session had exited the Great Hall Professor McGonagall started handing out the handouts that would be covered in the session as well as a muggle binder that held typed notes for them, as well as example essays from past OWL and NEWT students.

Hours where spent going over sentence syntax and how to avoid run-on sentences as well as reviews of what an adjective, noun, pronoun, and verb where as they hadn't been gone over by anyone since they did their grammar schooling before coming to Hogwarts and by the time lunch came, half of their workbooks where full of scrawled handwriting. By the time five that evening rolled around every student that had attended the seminar now knew at the very least: how to write a paper, how to write a thesis paper, and how to write a basic dissertation which apparently was required in their final year of Hogwarts.

The seventh years had already had a dissertation seminar earlier in the year while the sixth years had a thesis seminar, but this was a refresher for them, as well as a reminder, that their dissertation and thesis papers was coming up due. It also served as a glimpse into the future for those fifth years that had attended and let them know that they would have to write a thesis the next year and that their topic choices where due by the night before they left for Hogwarts for the summer or over the summer before they returned for their Sixth Year, if they were having trouble making up their minds. That following Sunday, and every minute of free time thereafter, was spent either in their private study corral pouring over pages and pages of notes as the OWL's crept up on them day by day.


	3. OWL's, NEWT's and Dark Lords OH MY

**She Walked Away **

**CHAPTER THREE: **OWL's, NEWT's and Dark Lords OH MY

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Authoress Note: Okay..I lied you get three chapters. This finally gets you into the meat of the story. Next chapter will go up Wednesday or earlier depending on **favs/reviews/follows.**

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Two months before OWL's and NEWT's all classes were cancelled in a traditional sense for fifth and seventh year students as no one could concentrate for very long as they were too worried about their revision schedules. Instead seminars where set up to held on the Third Floor Corridor, which had been converted into university style classroom settings, as they accommodated more students that way.

The notice had gone up in all the common rooms with a schedule for what would be covered when and all students were required to attend. The schedule itself was crazy but it was mandatory for all OWL students to attend the sessions, but they had the choice of attending the regular sessions or the Advanced Sessions; the only noticeable difference between the Advanced Sessions and the Regular Sessions was that with the Advanced Sessions the students would work through lunch and dinner and eat in the classroom and have five sessions a week per class they attended, which totaled up to ten hours of review per week per class which would give them eighty hours of review by the time their testing times rolled around. The cost of the review sessions was a staggering fourteen Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and six Knuts.

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The Advanced Section had them getting up at four in the morning and gave them an hour to shower and eat breakfast before the first review session of the day started. Since the teachers were busy working with other students that were not OWL or NEWT level, they had brought in Masters from outside Hogwarts to hold the review sessions. From there it was straight to work from five am until nine pm. Whereas the regular sessions ran from 8:00 AM until 9:00 PM which only gave them twelve hours of instruction during the day and only one block hours to cover each class the student was taking as well as thirty minutes for lunch and dinner, which left them time to go to the library if they desired.

The Friday the notice went up about the review sessions the Great Hall was abuzz with fevered talk about how tough the schedule was going to be but most people needed the strict schedule to get everything done that had to be done by the time their OWL's rolled around.

"The schedule is crazier than mine but at least this way we'll make sure to cover what we need to know." Hermione said; glad to see that at least Harry was considering it.

"I don't study well without a tight schedule so this would probably be the best option for me." Harry said. He was somewhat glad that this was even an option for them; even if it cost a pretty penny.

"Ron you should look into doing this but if not we can give you a copy of the syllabus we get the first day and you can self-study." Hermione said, sounding doubtful, even to her own ears.

"I've only got eight Galleons." Ron said, blushing to his ears at his admission. "Mum said that's all I can get until the end of the school term."

"Keep it Ron. Let me pay and just consider it an investment in to your future because you really need to pass all your OWL's or your job options will be limited. If either of you are interested they are allowing students that are not in certain classes to sit in if they are wanting to take the OWL for that course but it would still be a lot of work, I plan on sitting in on the Divination one and taking the International Ordinary Wizarding Levels as it allows you to pick and choose your methods as long as you choose at least four but six is preferred." Hermione said, knowing that Harry had always regretted not taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes with her, as he had limited his career options greatly.

"I plan on sitting in on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes as I want to see what other career options this will open up to me." Harry said, hoping he had what it took to get both subjects down in two months.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip tomorrow if you want to pick up the course books Harry. I need to do the same for Divination." She said, glad that she had been able to study the subject in a manner that she had wanted to, instead of studying everything there was to know about Divination in the hopes that what you studied would be on your OWL or NEWT level courses; although she would have to pick six more subjects for her NEWT in Divination if she wanted to pass it, as that was what was recommended.

"Harry when you have a break later today. Go talk to Professor McGonagall, tell her you have a time constraint issue. The only time she'll be free is from 3:30 to 4:15 and she's usually in her office then. That's when we have our break as well." She said, giving him a pointed look as Ron had never used a time-turner like they had, even if Harry had only used it once before; unlike Hermione who had used it for an entire year.

Harry liked how she thought and it would only be for two months which wasn't the crazy schedule that Hermione had been trying to keep up her entire third year but if he could just get those two OWL's under his belt, and then the NEWT's a whole other world would open up to him that he had yet to consider.

* * *

Waiting until three fifteen to talk to Professor McGonagall made his skin itch from the nervousness for some reason. Since he had picked his classes in the end of his second year he had realized he had made a mistake in how much he had limited himself, especially since the idea of becoming a Curse Breaker was something that had peaked his interest for the last few months.

By the time three fifteen rolled around he had already started making his way to Professor McGonagall's office and was pleased to see that the Transfiguration professor was not currently neck deep in paperwork as she usually was within her office.

"What can I do for you Harry?" she asked, even before he knocked, which shouldn't have surprised him in the slightest.

"I got to talking to Hermione. I plan on sitting in on the Ancient Runes and Arithmancy review sessions during the next two months but it's going to take more than that but due to time constraints I will not have spare time after the sessions to study, even if I skip dinner to take a session. Hermione mentioned that you might be able to help me out with the issue." He said, hoping and praying she wouldn't turn down his request.

"You realize you'll have to learn three years' worth of material in two months correct? That gives you basically two weeks and three days to cover a year's worth of material?" she asked, she had seen students do it before, but Mr. Potter's work ethic had left something to be desired in certain classes.

"Yes. Hermione said she would be willing to help me if you could help us around the time issue." He said, knowing that she could use the extra study hours, even if it was by less than perfect means.

"If Miss Granger is will to help you then by all means. Who am I to stop you and failing an OWL just means you won't be able to take it at the NEWT level, that does affect your prospects for certain jobs but I'm sure the Auror Corps or Hogwarts would love to have you for say, a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, if the classes don't pan out like you want to." She said reminding him gently but firmly that he still had options should he fail at this; at it sounded like she was expecting him to fail at it. That only made Harry want to work harder to make sure he passed both his Ancient Runes and Arithmancy NEWTs.

"I will go to the Ministry of Magic myself to collect your time-turner. If you and Miss Granger would both meet me back here after dinner this evening I should have it by then." She said, as she pulled out the necessary paperwork that it would take to get a time-turner, dismissing the young student in front of her.


	4. Time Turners and Potions

**CHAPTER FOUR: Time Turners and Potions **

**Authoress Note: **_Chapter Five should go up later tonight dependent upon reviews. Thanks to __**Tery28 **__for the first review._

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True to her word she sent Harry and Hermione an owl during dinner, reminding them to meet her at her office once they had finished. Hermione, having opened the note showed it to Harry as they both turned to look at Professor McGonagall who gave just the slightest nod of her head to show she understood they would be there.

Once dinner had been finished they decided to opt out of dessert, much to Ron's chagrin, saying dessert was the best part of the meal as they ignored his protests and made their way to the tower that held Professor McGonagall's office, glad to see her there waiting for them.

"Now you both know the rules. You can't be seen by your selves but with the revision schedule that shouldn't be a problem as long as you spend your day in the library. Remember each turn equals an hour and a half turn equals a half hour. I would advise you to use this only three or four times a week as I know the both of you will go all the way back to six am and put two working days into the space of one but I know you won't follow that. Just be careful not to be seen and try not to work your selves to death before it's time for the OWL's, although there is always the Calming Draught as well as the Pepper-Up a Sleeping Draught and the Grand-Pepper Up if the need calls for it. I wouldn't go to Madam Pompfrey to often for it though, but that is up to you. There is always the girl's bathroom where Moaning Myrtle resides." she said, giving them a knowing look before handing them the time-turner they were to share.

Hermione looked at Professor McGonagall as if she had never considered that option before but kept her options to herself; not wanting to let her Professor know that she had just given her an idea.

"We understand Professor." Hermione replied as she placed the time-turner around her neck. "Would you mind terrible if we went into _Hogsmeade _this evening. It wouldn't look right if I where to buy a few cauldrons tomorrow since everyone knows that my cauldron is in perfect condition; we'd like to work on our potions practical." She said, playing along with the escape route Professor McGonagall had given them.

"That would be acceptable. You may floo to the _Hog's Head._" She said, scribbling them a pass so no one would think it odd and try to report the two students. "I expect you back in exactly an hour." She said, giving them a stern look which was followed by a softer wink as she handed them both some floo powder before they disappeared from her sight.

* * *

Once at the _Hog's Head _they quickly made their way to the apothecary, greeting the owner, before they got down to business as Hermione rattled off the ingredients for a sleeping draught, pepper-up, grand pepper-up, brain elixir, invigoration draught, draught of peace and a calming draught, telling the owner, a Miss Matthews, that they were working on revision for their Potions OWL, which was perfectly acceptable to her.

"Alright then, how much of each?" she asked, knowing that they did not want the ingredients to revise for their Potions OWL. She had seen Miss Granger come in here countless times before, she knew the girl knew her potions inside and out but she let their lie of omission pass by unnoticed to them.

"Sixty ounces ought to do it." Hermione said, quickly doing a rough calculation in her head before nodding again to herself.

"That's a lot; you're sure to ace your Potions OWL if you intend to work on them that hard." She said, as she waved her hand before the ingredients appeared in front of her, already boxed up.

"We'll also need four new cauldrons,32 ounce ones please, four packs of stirring rods if they still contain two apiece , and five hundred vials, never mind just make it two thousand. Four eight ounce, sixteen ounce and thirty two ounce bottles or jugs as well. From there we'll need an assortment of blue, amber and green 1 dram bottles. I'd say 260 each for the blue, amber, green, clear, and purple vials." She said, tacking them on at the last minute, knowing it would be better to spend tomorrow brewing since there wouldn't be so many people in the castle at the time.

With a nod of her head the order was filled quickly before all being placed in a box that was shrunken to fit inside their pocket. Many Galleons later they exited the store as Harry finally turned to Hermione.

"Should I just go ahead and get my books I need today so we can spend all of tomorrow brewing?" Harry asked, not the least bit surprised when she gave him the nod of approval as they quickly entered the bookstore, having only taken a little over fifteen minutes at the apothecaries.

Hermione, as smart as she was, had the order of books waiting for them as she had owled it in shortly after Harry had mentioned he wanted to attend the review sessions for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, although Harry was surprised to see the Muggle Studies textbook sitting there as well as.

"I figured since you were trying to attempt Ancient Runes and Arithmancy you may want to attempt Muggle Studies with me as well, although it's fairly easy since we're both muggle born." She said, waving off Harry's insistence that he pay. "Honestly Harry, my parents are where I got my affinity for books from. I'm given a book allowance outside of my regular Hogsmeade and school supply allowance." She said, trying her hardest not to blush at that admission.

"Why am I not surprised?" He said, just now noticing that there were more books than he needed for his revisions which meant Hermione had owled in some for herself as well.

"You shouldn't be, you've known me for going on five years now." She said as the sales-witch started the process of gathering up all her purchases which left them some time to browse.

Finding only one other book at the moment that she wanted to add to her purchases, entitled _Careers that Use Arithmancy and Ancient Runes _which Harry was sure was for him, they made their way back to the sales counter before paying for the extra book. Once they gathered up their extra purchases they quickly exited the shop before nipping in to buy several more quills, going as far as to buy a '_Direct Quotes Quill'_ and made their way in silence back up to the _Leaky Cauldron _ and through the floo to Hogwarts


	5. Smarter Than That

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER FIVE: Smarter Than That**

* * *

Once back at Hogwarts they thanked Professor McGonagall profusely before making their way to the girl's bathroom that was occupied by Moaning Myrtle at Harry's insistence as he wanted to get started on the potions that night.

"I figured you would. I hope you don't mind but I nipped your cauldron from your trunk and I have mine with me. It's going on seven now so I say we work until ten and then use the time turner to go back eight hours. By then we'll have the Pepper-Up Potion finished so it shouldn't be a problem and once we catch back up to ten we can get some sleep and we'll start over again tomorrow but that should give us a good starter set. We'll brew all of tomorrow and Sunday during our '_regular' _time and use our time-turner to work on starting you on Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, and Arithmancy it's how I got through third year." She said, looking over to Harry to see how he would react, as he hadn't acted too kindly when he found out that she had been flooding her system with Pepper-Up in her third year to make it through.

Harry seemed to have a far off look in his eyes before he finally came back to reality with a grim expression on his face that was a mixture of for longing and a smile which worried Hermione slightly.

"There's a war coming soon. The world acknowledged Lord Voldemort's return at the end of last year only because of Cedric's death. I refuse to fall into that same trap again; anything to win the war that's coming, even if no one will acknowledge it." He said the last part as a whisper but Hermione heard him all the same.

"Well you know for one that I believe you, even if the Ministry doesn't full support what they're spewing."

Harry watched as Hermione pulled out the potions ingredients, lining them up in a neat row alphabetically, which was something she had always done now that he thought about. From there she started on the base for the Pepper-Up and Grand-Pepper Up potions.

"Can you start on the Sleeping Draft and the Calming Draught?" she asked, knowing that he would do so without hesitation , so she didn't bother to look up from cutting the ingredients she needed for the Pepper-Up potions. "Be sure to do five times what the recipe calls for. It's best to do everything in 32 ounce batches from here on out so we're not having to brew every week. We'll do the Brain Elixir, Wit-Sharpening Potion and Draught of Peace once we finish these" She said, knowing that once they started their potions regime it would take more and more of each potion every week to get the same effect; it was something she hadn't told Harry but she was pretty certain that he either knew about it or at least had some idea.

"You know that once we start this regime it will take more and more to do the trick. You usually have to up your dosage every week and a half if we're going to be consuming it at the rate I think we are." She said, wanting to get a feeling of how often he planned on using the time-turner.

"That's fine. Something tells me that I need to know Arithmancy and Ancient Runes and I feel stupid for not having started them in Third Year but that was my mistake; I modeled my classes after what Ron was taking which was not very smart. I intend to make up for it." He said; glad to see that she nodded her head in approval before giving him a thin-lipped smile.

In all honesty Hermione was glad that Harry had been brave enough to go to Professor McGonagall to ask about a time-turner and had thought to include her on it. She had wanted it back ever since she gave it up in her third year; ever since Ron told her that Bill Weasley, his eldest brother, had taken all twelve classes and passed them all at the NEWT-level she had berated herself for giving up something that made her feel as if she was truly accomplishing something above her peers; but that trait came from being a perfectionist which was what she considered her only vice; as the usage of Pepper-Up and Sleeping Draughts and Drafts to get through third year was just a part of her perfectionistic tendencies, or vice if you would prefer.

Once all the potions where set to where they had to simmer for the next two hours Hermione had Harry break out his Muggle Studies text book and start reading it. While he was a relatively slow reader in comparison to Hermione, he was a lot faster than Ron by several leaps and bounds which helped him work his way through two chapters within the two hours they waited on their potions to finish.

After giving each potion its final stir, they started the long process of decanting 32 ounces of potions into the 32 ounce bottles they had purchased. Once that was finished Hermione and Harry started the very slow process of transferring the potions into 1 dram vials. With one fluid ounce equaling 7.99 drams, they were able to get 255 full vials per potion they brewed with a small amount _(.9999 repeating, if Hermione's calculations where correct_) left over . If they started out with four vials of Pepper Up Potion a day, and adding two more each consecutive week, they would each go through eighty eight vials by the time they sat their OWL's. That would put them at four vials of Pepper-Up a day the first week and from there they would use a total of 144 vials each or 288 vials to get through their OWL testing for both of them if they only used their time turner once in a day to go back a full nine to ten hours, if they went back farther than that it would require more, which they thankfully already had. The sleeping draft was easier to calculate than the Pepper-Up., since they only intended to sleep once a day. Considering the fact the Sleeping Draft worked like Pepper-Up in the fact the more you took the more you had to take it would have to be on a sliding scale as well. With there being eight weeks until OWL's if they had to up their dosage every week by a vial that would put them at 252 vials apiece if they added a vial a week, or 504 vials all together. If they made two batches they would have only a handful left over. The Grand Pepper-Up was brewed just in case they accidentally built up too high a tolerance to the Pepper-Up or needed something a little bit stronger to help them focus but they still had 255 vials of it in case they needed it.

Once they were finished decanting the first batch of potions they decided to wait to do the other three potions earlier in the previous day, so to avoid being seen by themselves, as they could only brew in the bathroom without drawing attention to themselves so they made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Wait until everyone is asleep and then use the time-turner. We got to the bathroom at seven so let's wait till eleven and go back seven hours which will give us two hours to brew the potions and then five hours study time." She said, as they stopped for a stair case that had changed before they stepped on to it. "We'll do the potions first since we were at Hogsmeade during that time as they only take an hour to brew and we'll be getting there two hours before our past selves will return from the village. Be sure to bring your school bag, I want to add an undectable extension charm so you can add more books without it breaking." She said, nailing down a plan so as to not run into themselves while they were working on the potions.

"Sounds good to me; let's just stay in the Common Room so we can know when everyone goes to bed though we might want to find an empty cupboard or broom closet to use the time-turner; it wouldn't due to randomly show up in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room and have someone notice." He said, surprising Hermione with his logic.

"That sounds agreeable." She said, glad to see that Harry was thinking this through, as meddling with time had bad effects if one was caught by their current or former selves. Once everyone had gone to bed that evening they silently slipped out of Gryffindor Tower and made their way to an empty cupboard before using their shared time-turner and turning it the required seven times before they swiftly made their way to the girl's bathroom to get started on their brewing.

They made quick work of the ingredient preparation as Hermione had started on it while Harry had been reading over a textbook while they were brewing earlier. Thankfully the three potions they had left, the Brain Elixir, Invigoration Draught, and the Draught of Peace only required the exact two hours of brewing time that they had and with Hermione's level of preparedness of doing the ingredient chopping earlier in the day, all they add to do was add the ingredients in the correct order, stirring as required and then allowing it to simmer for twenty minutes.

"Do you think I can really pass the Ancient Runes and Arithmancy OWL's?" Harry asked suddenly, just as they were about to decant the potions they had been working on that evening.

"I'm certain you can. You've dumbed down how smart you are in order to appease the Dursleys and Ron, you've made comments sometimes that are more along the lines of things I would say. While you're at the Dursleys you don't have the chance to study and do your summer reading like you should and then you have to cram what should take you two months into less than two weeks, with the added distraction of Ron. You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for. I'm not saying it won't be hard but it will be doable." She said as she started decanting two of the potions that they had been brewing, finally having learned a charm that would help them with the decanting process.

Harry just nodded, a silly little grin on his face, glad that at least someone had noticed that he had been intentionally fixing his grades so that they would match Ron's, which was how he had made his Third Year course selections, which he now realized had been a big mistake.


	6. Advanced Review Sessions Part One

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER SIX: Advanced Review Session, Part One**

* * *

Sunday morning found Gryffindor Tower a lot more active than it usually was at five in the morning, much to the complaints of many a fifth and seventh year student as most stumbled for the showers as they rubbed sleep from their eyes.

Those that had thought to shower the night before where met with tea and coffee in their common room by the Hogwarts elves which was ever so welcome after having woken up to a barking wand-clock. Once they had finished dressing Harry and Hermione decided to make their way down the Great Hall, knowing that waiting for Ron was a useless task as he was a hard sleeper and would probably make it to the review session two minutes before it started, if he wasn't late.

Breakfast was a quiet affair for most students as no one was fully awake yet as they took in another cup of coffee or tea in an attempt to stay awake which only caused Harry and Hermione to share private smiles with each other as Hermione pulled two vials of Pepper-Up potion from her robe pockets and poured it into their tea cups. They had discovered over the weekend that when Pepper-Up was added to a drink it didn't produce the steaming effect it usually had but still worked just as strong.

Once mixed in with a few more cups of coffee or tea they were good to go for the day, eating very little of their breakfast due to nerves at how busy there day was going to be. Once six o'clock hit the fifth and seventh year students made their way to the Third Floor Corridor and where divided off into two classrooms apiece one for those doing the original schedule, and one for those that would eat lunch and dinner in the classroom so they could finish up by eight pm. . Harry and Hermione quickly found seats at the front of the classroom as it slowly started to fill up before they pulled out the required revisions books they had purchased for the review sessions as well as spare parchment, ink, and quills, as well as a muggle fountain pen in case the quills slowed them down, as it was much quicker to write with a fountain pen than it was a quill.

Each seat had several syllabi sitting at it which was helpful in allowing them to know what was coming per class. A quick glance at the Astronomy syllabi told them they only had to attend at least three sessions a week to allow them some extra sleep time.

"We should just go ahead and attend them all." Hermione said, knowing that with their secret study aids they would be able to function just fine.

"I had planned on it. I'm ok in Astronomy but I'm not great." He said, glancing over the general rules and information sheet that was on the very top of the stack.

"That would have us finishing up at nine five days out of the week, and possibly midnight for only two days out of the week. Unlike Ron who will finish somewhere around two in the morning; I don't know how he plans on function on such little sleep. I rather like that idea, because even with the extra help we still need to get a descents night sleep." Hermione said, glad that Harry was finally taking his studies seriously.

Shortly thereafter the instructor that was teaching, or reviewing, the History of Magic curriculum entered the classroom, walking up to the podium and began talking as the chalk started writing notes on the board. With the _Correct Quotes Quills_ they were able to take notes and follow along in the revision books at the same time as she started going over Pierre Bonaccord, the first Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards who wanted to give trolls rights, which caused some issues with wizards from Liechtenstein.

Arithmancy and Ancient Runes thankfully started back at the very beginning but when rather quickly as they were covering a year's worth of material in two weeks, or ten classes, but by the time both classes where over, as they were back to back Harry felt like he had a decent background on it, albeit shaky, but decent. Since they were taught by the same instructor, a Miss Raven, which made them wonder if she was related to Rowena Ravenclaw, she called both Harry and Hermione to her while the other students where working on an Arithmancy equation that they had learned the first few weeks of their very first year of Arithmancy.

"I understand Mr. Potter, that you have not taken either course before but are still attempting to take them at the OWL level is that correct?" she asked, giving them a smile to tell them that she didn't doubt his ability to do so.

"Yes ma'am." He replied; glad to see that she wasn't going to be as condensing as Professor McGonagall had been when he had made the request earlier that weekend.

"Very well then; if you wouldn't mind, use your time-turner Monday through Thursday once you have finished all your classes and extra studying at midnight and meet me in the unused classroom on this corridor at six am. That will give us sixteen hour days, four days a week. Which will give you a total of 512 hours of instruction or 256 hours of instruction per course; add in the regular review sessions during the regular time frame at ten hours a week per course for eight weeks and that will add another eighty hours of instruction to your learning curve at 336 total hours per course. By then you will be more than ready to sit your OWL's. As that is more than more students have taken. It will long, grueling and hard, but it is possible." She said, before turning her attention to Hermione. "You, of course, are more than welcome to join us." She said, glad to see that the young girl before her nodded her head in agreement before blushing and voiced her opinion as well.

"Thank you Miss Raven. This will help him out a lot as I was worried about how I was going to be able to teach him the subjects on top of the review sessions." She said, blushing at her admissions.

"It's understandable. Harry, just follow along with Hermione on what's she's working on and we'll start you fresh tomorrow back at square one when we start our session. Wait until eleven pm to use your time-turner though as I've been told you'll receive an unusually generous offer from Madam Pince after your Astronomy lesson." She said, before dismissing them to get back to work on their Arithmancy problem they should both have been working on. When Arithmancy finished up for the day Miss Raven informed them to work through their workbooks from pages one to one hundred and fifty and to read back through their notes from the first three months of Year Three, which meant Harry had a lot of catch up reading to do and unfortunately for him their next Arithmancy review session was on Monday, the next day, at three-thirty.

From there they moved onto Ancient Runes, which thankfully, Harry wasn't as lost in. Hermione had attempted to explain The Study of Ancient Runes to Harry when she had first started the class and it had somewhat made sense but he made his decision to stick with Care and Divination because Ron had decided to take them both; which made him wonder if that was a very wise decision or not but he would have time to contemplate that later in the day. Ancient Runes consisted of a review of the Elder Futhark and the Younger Futhark with instructions to once again work through the first one hundred pages of the work book and to skim back over the first three months' worth of notes from Year Three which was due Tuesday in their next class.

Transfiguration however was by far one of their more packed classes. They spent the entire two hours taking a hundred question test whose questions increased in difficulty per page. Towards the end of the second hour the tests were handed in and Auto-Graded through a bespelled Auto-Grades quill as their teacher a Professor Bones, more than likely related to Susan and Amelia Bones, began to explain the procedure to them.

"Tonight you will go back through and write a parchment sheet and a half per question you missed. Research the transfiguration itself, what methods are used to cast the transfiguration, the wand movement, the science behind the transfiguration, or as much as you can find on it as that's NEWT-level, and the mental aspect of the transfiguration which is due Tuesday. From there you are to write at least a four-page paper on the magical theory of Transfiguration which is also due Wednesday and a four-page paper on magical theory as it relates to another subject which you may use in that class if you so desire. Courses that will require a magical theory paper are Astronomy, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts to a degree, Divination, Herbology, which will be due Thursday. Keep in mind we've only gone over the theory of first year, we still have second thru fifth to cover and we will test one a day until Thursday and on Friday we will delve straight into the Magical Theory review portion of this course for the first month; the second month will cover more of the practical aspect." She said, handing them back their papers for their Year One Transfiguration test they had taken.

Harry and Hermione both where pleased to see that they had received a 84% outstanding and a 98% outstanding respectively which meant that Harry had to write out twenty four parchment pages on the questions he had missed. Hermione was pleased that she only had to write out three pages but hers would probably be as long as Harry's if she had enough time to research it.


	7. Advanced Review Sessions Part Two

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER SEVEN: Advanced Review Sessions Part Two**

* * *

**Authoress Note: **Posted five chapters in one day as this chapter was originally two chapters which I combined into one. Hopefully this gets us far enough into the story that it peaks your interest but no worries there's still **73 ****Chapters **pre-written and more being added.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around most students where so exhausted that they were glad that they had decided not to take the option to take the session that had them working through lunch and exited the room they were working in and making a terrible racket in the hallways which caused Hermione and Terry to cast a silencing charm around the room they were in.

When lunch appeared in front of them in the style of a Hogwarts selection they all quickly started filling their plates, as they only had fifteen minutes to eat before their review session started. As they all started to eat their Professor for Care of Magical Creatures, neither of them had caught his name earlier, entered the class room carrying with him an object that was strangely familiar to both Harry and Hermione as their shared time-turner was sitting around Hermione's neck.

"My name is Professor Boot and yes I am a cousin to Terry here," he said, which caused the student in question to turn glare at his older cousin. "These are time-turners I'm sure you've all heard of them. You have thirty minutes to eat and then we'll use a time turner to go back thirty minutes, which is half a turn, to start the lesson. It's not fair to you all to have you have to rush to eat to start on time." He said, pausing for a breath before continuing. "After dinner these will be returned to me no questions asked and they will be used in pairs, I don't care who you pair up with so much as long as you do. One of you will be stuck pairing up with me." At this he paused and looked at Terry who just shrugged. "Now enjoy your meal." He said, as he watched them start eating at a much slower pace before exiting the room for a few moments.

"I wonder what book…" The start of Hermione's sentence was met with three different hushing noises from the Ravenclaws they were with; as two of them had opted not to take Care of Magical Creatures during their time at Hogwarts.

"No talk of school work during breakfast, lunch or dinner." Terry said, giving Hermione a sympathetic look, it wasn't her fault she didn't know the Ravenclaw house rule. "It's a house rule. If not all Ravenclaws would starve." Hermione thought for a moment and saw the logic in their house rule before she turned her attention back to her meal as Harry gave her a small smile from his side.

Ron, not surprisingly, had chosen not to partake of his meals in the classroom and was, as such, put in the other classroom with those that would actually be taking meal breaks, which meant with his longer schedule, and their constant use of a time-turner in the two months to come, they would see little of Ron unless they could manage to make him wake-up early enough to actually join them for breakfast.

Once they finished their meal Professor Boot sat down next to them in a very informal manner and began talking.

"Alright since there are only six of you taking what we are calling the '_fast-track_' program you have a few choices to make. You can all choose to opt out of breakfast in the Great Hall and eat it in the classroom which will start your studies at five am if you all shower the evening before. In that case you would finish up around nine if you use the time turner for your meals but that is completely up to you all. That would mean you would have to be up at four thirty however to get ready and get to the classroom but it's been proven that those that wake up anywhere from three to five in the morning have the most productive time during the first twelve hours of their day. That would give you seven and a half hours sleep which is only thirty minutes shy of the recommend eight hours, however it has to be a group conscious or we can't do it." He said as he watched as the students all looked at each other for a moment.

"We'll get all the revision done that we need to for our OWL's during the revision sessions? We won't have any outside work besides reworking the problems we got wrong? Because at the rate we're going there won't be time left in the day to study anymore or do any outside material aside from those classes that we individually don't take." Terry asked, as he asked himself again why on Earth he had decided to take Care of Magical Creatures when he didn't really need the class for the career options he had been looking over.

"There will be no outside material in any of your classes because of how tight a schedule you are all on. This is all simply revision of everything you have covered and should have learned so far; however, if you come across something you don't remember studying or didn't study, you will have to take time outside of the classroom to work on it to bring yourself up to par. If you fail any of the tests you will have outside work; an '_A' _or lower. You will have pre-tests and post-tests once the course starts picking up that if you also get an '_A' _or lower in, will require outside work. You will also be required to work back over or write papers on any questions that you have gotten wrong in your tests and such." He said, glad that Terry had asked that question as he was sure it had been on everyone's mind with how tightly packed their review sessions where. "There were a few people that opted out of doing this program which leaves them with self-study or hiring tutors as a lot of Slytherins have done; but this program is much cheaper even if there isn't one on one training but with this being such a small class it will be easy enough to go over it again if need be." He said, smiling at them all as they all looked at each other.

"Well we need a vote then. I'm in for eating breakfast in the classroom if you all are." Terry said, smiling to himself as one by one they all agreed with him before turning back to Professor Boot.

"It's decided then; this means that your Potions review starts at five in the morning tomorrow." He said, reminding them of that fact as their plates and their food vanished as they set about to use their time-turners following the Professor through a side door that led to another unused classroom. Once back at two pm that afternoon Professor Boot began to set up his notes before a rather large carafe of coffee appeared along with six coffee mugs. "I figured you all could use a pick me up and just so you know if you add a Pepper-Up potion to a drink it won't make steam come out of your ears like it does if you just take it by itself." He said with a wink in their direction, knowing that they had signed up for a lot of hard work and that they all eventually would need it as he set down five vials of a Grand-Pepper Up potion before pouring one into his own cup of coffee that the carafe had poured for him.

The students watched as it filled their cups before they added the Grand Pepper Up potion to it and took a big drag of the drink, finding out that it didn't cause steam to come out of their ears when they drank it mixed with a beverage which was silently filed away for later by the Ravenclaws as Hermione and Harry had already determined that earlier that weekend.

Professor Boot started them going over their Third Year Curriculum with a test that was similar to their written end of year exam for Year Three. Once they were turned in, he had them use all of their previous Care books to look up any questions they thought they had trouble with and write out the answers as he graded them.

"Miss Granger and Terry both scored 100%, Mr. Goldstein scored 99.5%, all of which are an EE Padma Patil scored 88% and Harry scored an 84% which is an A. Miss Turpin scored a 94% which is an Outstanding. Harry and Padma, I want at least half a parchment going over every question you missed. There were two hundred questions on the test at .5 per question. Harry you missed thirty two problems, Padma you missed twenty eight. I know it's a lot but you'll be able to manage and it won't be due until our double Care review session on Friday. Do eight questions a night between now and then and you'll do fine." He said, noticing how pale both Padma and Harry had gone at the sudden amount of work thrown on them. "You're free to go for now as you have a library period between now and three thirty and it's only two thirty. Harry and Padma, here are the copies of the questions you missed. Take them to Madam Pince and see what she has books on but she should have books on everything; she'll be able to pull books between now and your library hours later this evening and if not I'm sure she'll be willing to let you loan some. Unless you want to get ahead, just focus on eight questions a night which is only four sheets of parchment in a day." He said, handing both Harry and Padma copies of their test, which they took back, slightly embarrassed about their '_Acceptable_' grade. "If you have time brush up on your Year Four Care work; we'll test on that tomorrow and it will be due Sunday. We'll test on Year Five Tuesday and your work will be due Monday and then from there on out it will be review based material; but once we hit that point the pace will pick up a lot quicker and we'll be taking a quiz before and after each class." He said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand as they returned their time-turners and began following Padma and Harry to the library, both of which were walking quicker than normal to be going to a room of the castle they rarely visited.

* * *

Entering the library they found it packed with younger year students who were looking around nervously as a group of fifth years, aside from themselves, entered the library. Harry and Padma were not deterred in their mission as they headed straight for Madam Pince, who was enclosed in a corridor that had recently been deserted of students who looked to be doing something other than studying.

Upon explaining their problem to Madam Pince she briefly looked over the questions they missed before swiftly walking over to the Care of Magical Creatures section, pulling down book after book and placing them into two separate stacks. From there she moved over to the Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Transfiguration sections pulling down book after book, leaving most of them with towering stacks of books that only the like of Hermione had been seen with before.

"Here is everything you should need to complete your papers in full. You will have these back to me by Saturday at the latest. If any harm comes to these books," she said, pausing to look down over the rim of her glasses at the two young students, "you will never check out another library book again during your time at Hogwarts."

This could have been due to the fact that Irma Pince was highly protective of her books, or it could have been the fact that she wasn't too fond of students in general unless they were constant _EE _students like Hermione Granger, but one thing was certain. If the librarian of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was letting you check you more than the allotted number of set books, you took care of them with your life.

The books quickly shrank themselves with the tap of their wands as they scurried their way to their Charms review session.

* * *

They were surprised to see Professor Flitwick standing on a tall stack of books writing notes on the board when they re-entered their classroom for their Charms review session.

"Welcome. Now I don't want to bore you with Year One thru Four reviews but it has to be done. Unlike the other teachers however we will test once today and then move onto problem areas or more in-depth areas of Charms that you have not covered but would be helpful to know for your OWLs. It is a three-hundred question test, some are multiple choice, some are short answers and there are two essay questions. You have the entirety of the two hours to finish your exam. If you finish before your two hours are up, I will gladly grade your paper now; if you take the entirety of the two hours you will have your paper back by nine pm this evening in your respective dorm rooms. You may begin now. Before you leave today I will need you to copy down all the notes from the board, which you may use a spell for it, if you know the spell." He said, glad to see that at least Terry and Hermione's eyes lit up at the prospect of using a spell they both knew about, but had never be able to put into practice before.

Charms was one of Harry's stronger subjects, although not his strongest, and he managed to finish his test within the time frame for his paper to be graded before their Divination course began. Just as Firenze walked into the classroom, Professor Flitwick handed both Harry, Hermione, and Terry back their papers which they all glanced at their grades before filing them away to look at later with instructors to write half a parchment sheet for every problem they missed if they received below an '_O'_.

Firenze went over the time-turner policy with them once again, before giving them each a time-turner, enabling them to eat dinner in the adjourning classroom much quicker than they had eaten their lunch before they began going over the Magical Theory behind Divination. Firenze went into much more complicated detail than Professor Treweleny every had, which had Hermione, Harry, Terry, Padma and Lisa Turpin copying notes at an alarming rate, even with their quills bespelled to copy the notes verbatim.

However, once class was finished Firenze kept both Harry and Hermione back from relocating to the Astronomy Tower for their first Astronomy course.

"Professor Dumbledore has told me that you haven't taken Divination before this year Hermione and that you plan on taking the International Ordinary Wizarding Levels. I would recommend that you hold off on taking your International OWL until August to give you ample time to learn your six forms of Divination but because you are doing that; there really isn't a point in you taking the Advanced OWL Revision for Divination, unless you want to get a head start on your work." He said, glad to see when the young human girl didn't back down from the invisible challenge he had issued her.

"I won't disturb the class and I'll just take notes on anything that catches my attention for looking into for my International OWL." Hermione said, glad when Firenze agreed with her assessment before he handed her a rather thick file that had been sitting on the desk throughout the class.

"Look through these then and try and come up with the forms of divination you'd like to focus on and I'll see what I can do about helping you." He said, dismissing them with a smile to head to their next class.

* * *

By the time their Astronomy Theory course had rolled around they had taken two Pepper-Ups and a Grand Pepper Up apiece. Their Astronomy course was designed so that Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday they were actually in Astronomy. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday they had Herbology and then on Tuesday and Saturdays after their respective Astronomy and Herbology course Harry had a final Divination course that ran from nine to ten thirty. For Astronomy they had theoretical lessons which was a very nice set up, even if they had one more practical lesson than theoretical, if you failed the practical portion then a student had to do very well on the theoretical section to bring up their grade enough to stay in the class which made their practical Astronomy schedule make sense.

Just as everyone had settled in for their Astronomy course, the teacher walked in, looking much like a younger version of Professor McGonagall with a tall stack of books floating in front of her which quickly zoomed out to land in front of her six students.

"Your Astronomy career at Hogwarts has been thoroughly full in one sense and thoroughly lacking in another. We have two months to make up for the gap between our Astronomy courses and those of muggles. Thankfully you don't need a full understanding until you sit your NEWT in Astronomy but you will still have to have a basic understanding of at least an Introduction to Physical Science course before then. For now your job is to work through this book," she said, holding up a rather thick text book that looked to have over four hundred pages in it, "by the end of next Friday. As well as fill out a star chart between now and then." She said, not catching the groans that went around the class room at the ridiculousness of covering such a large book in the eight weeks leading up to their OWL's. "I also want an essay on the magical properties of all nine planets, one paper per planet, which will be due at the end of this week. Include the physical properties as well as the magical properties of the planets. For tonight you will chart the night sky." She said, guiding them to the telescopes and copy paper that where already set up for them.

* * *

Just as they were about to leave the tower their revision Astronomy course was held in Madam Pince made an appearance which startled the students but not the recent Master of Astronomy that had been hired to teach the revision courses.

"I have decided to make an exception to the library hours. Because of your schedules most of you do not have time to attend the library before it closes." She said, looking at Harry and Hermione when she said this, which told them that she knew they were attempting all twelve OWL's." For that reason the library will be open from nine to twelve if you desire to use it. If no one shows up by nine thirty then I will close the library. Are any of you interested?" she asked, being most uncommonly nicer than she ever had been, but that could be because they were taking the fast-tracked course and where the only six OWL students that had chosen to do so.

Hermione felt she could strongly answer for all them and when she did, the other five students voiced their agreements to the offer that had been extended to them.

"Very well then, those of you that wish to study tonight may follow me." She said, leading all six of the students to the library where the doors were locked but the lights where still on.

Hermione and Harry took another half vial of Pepper-Up potion that they had mixed in with a water bottle on the way to the library so they could focus before turning their attention to their revisions' once more, going over as much of the notes they had taken that day as they could, along with the Ravenclaws that they shared the subjects with.

"Did anyone mange to write down all our homework and when it was due? We changed classes so much that I think I mixed a few things up?" Harry asked, knowing that between Hermione and Terry they more than likely had everything written down to the last detail.

"For Astronomy we have two weeks to work through the monster Physical Science Course, a paper to write on the magical and physical properties of all nine planets. And a star chart for any chosen night. Harry has to do forty-eight problems for Care of Magical Creatures at half a parchment each at twenty four pages total due Friday. Harry has to do twenty four parchment pages for the problems he missed in Transfiguration. I have to do four pages all due during the next Transfiguration class on Tuesday and Harry needs to look over the Arithmancy and Ancient Rune notes for class Monday and Tuesday." Hermione said, jotting down a list as she talked before she set her quill down firmly with a small grimace on her face; it was going to be a long two months.

Eventually Terry and Hermione made their way into the tall stacks of the Hogwarts library coming back almost a full thirty minutes later with stacks of books that were so tall you couldn't tell who was behind each stack before they started distributing books to everyone at the table. Notes were copied at a frantic pace to attempt to keep up with the work load they had. Once Terry remembered the copy spell, it made their life a lot easier as they just copied full portions of text onto parchment to work into a paper later in the evening from close to one hundred books by the time Madam Pince kicked them out of the library with a smile and an arm full of books each.

Once they finally made it back the common room, after leaving the library at exactly the stroke of midnight with a mountain of books shrunk in their satchels, Harry reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand to keep her from entering the girl's dorm for a moment.

"Use the time-turner to go back to eight pm." He said, knowing that this would allow them eight and half hours sleep. "Take your Dreamless Sleep anyway since we don't have to start our dream journals until the last month." He said, glad to see that she brightened up at the idea before lopping the time-turner around Harry and giving it four and a half turns, glad to find that no one was around when they had gone back in time.

"Night Harry, should I wake you in the morning if you're not up by the time I get up?" She asked, knowing that she was an earlier riser than he was and that he couldn't get into the girl's dormitories.

"Please. Sleep well." He said as she replied the same before slipping into the girls' dormitories, spinning her time turner, before they both downed a Dreamless Sleep Potion simultaneously in different rooms and drifted off into a deep slumber, not bothering to change out of their robes.


	8. Day Two, Advanced Review Sessions

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER EIGHT:** Advanced Review Sessions: Day Two

* * *

**THIS STORY IS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE UP UNTIL CHAPTER 22!**

Now that that's out of the way. Someone left a "guest" review saying that I am bashing Ron. No I'm not actually. He is not really included much in the first part of the story **because he didn't take the Advanced section. **Honestly, would anyone believe that Ron would study harder than he had to or could get the money to pay for the supplies? Ron really comes into play around Chapter 22 until Chapter 80 at the least!_[And that's only because that's as far as I've written]_

So because he doesn't play a large part in the first now nine chapters, you assume he won't be included when in fact he has a rather big part in **58** **of the 80 chapters that are finished!**

Don't bother with anonymous reviews; good or bad I will automatically delete them if you don't have the courage to leave your username.

* * *

They woke the next morning, a Monday in fact, feeling only slightly groggy but Hermione knew that once they started using the Pepper-Up Potion, and kept on using it, it would take care of that in a heartbeat. Knowing that they only had an hour until they had to be in the classroom Hermione made sure Harry was awake before taking a rather quick shower and dressing in her standard Hogwarts robes. Shortly after she entered the Common Room she found Harry waiting for her, which made her happy that he had managed to finish before she had; usually he took longer to get ready, even though she had much longer hair than he did.

"Nice to see you're already here." She said, giving him a smile as she picked up her school bag. "Why don't we go ahead and head on down to the classroom? We can look over the syllabus and see what we'll be going over for today." She said, looking in his direction for his reply.

"Sounds good, don't forget that the Professors are more than likely going to be supplying our Pepper-Ups but I brought a few vials just in case." He said, motioning to his pocket where she could barely see the outline of a vial within.

"Sounds good." She replied as they exited the common room and made their way to the third floor corridor, not surprised to find that the Ravenclaws where slowly trickling in. Once they all took their seats their breakfast appeared before them, and considering it was only four forty they had plenty of time to eat before their lessons started. Considering the fact they all ate rather quickly by the time they finished they still had ten minutes left before their first potions review began, they began to talk.

"We didn't get full introductions yesterday. I'm Terry Boot, this is Anthony Goldstein," he said motioning to the only other male Ravenclaw in the room," and these are Padma Patil and Lisa Turpin." He said, who were easy enough to tell apart as Parvati Patil, Padma's twin sister, was in Gryffindor and was the spitting image of her identical twin sister.

"Hermione Granger and Harry Potter," Hermione said, more out of curtsey than anything else, as most of the student body knew who they were by now. That was mainly due to their antics each year and the fact Hermione always held the number one spot in the school.

"We were wondering Hermione, how on earth did the Sorting Hat not put you in Ravenclaw? You always have the top spot every year." This came from Lisa Turpin, a rather small female that had blonde hair, a more natural shade than what the Malfoy's claimed.

"It considered me for Ravenclaw but said Gryffindor would suit me better." Was all she said on the matter as most people knew what was talked about at the Sorting Ceremony was considered private.

"Not surprising then. Has anyone heard of a Horus Slughorn, who is going to be doing our Potions Review?" Lisa asked, glancing at the others who all shook their heads in the negative. "Apparently he used to teach at Hogwarts's. I wonder how much of our schedule for him will be theoretical and how much will be practical?" she asked, just as a deep voice came from behind them in reply.

"Well Miss Turpin that will be up to the six of you. We have some things to discuss before we start with our lesson but if you'll all stand I want to do away with all but the first row of seating. There isn't a point for stadium seating when there are six of you and you're all sitting on the front row." He said, as they all turned to get a good look at him, finding him to be like the picture that was next to his column in Potions Weekly for those who read it.

Once the sitting situation had been taking care of they quickly resituated themselves into the six seats that where left which were set up similar to the tables in their Potion's classroom, expect for the fact they had chairs and their brewing tables.

Once he had situated himself in the chair provided for him, which he had brought around in front of his desk so that he was on the opposite side of their table, he began talking again.

"The program itself requires five sessions per class which is why after five thirty on Saturday you are free. By then you have meet all your requirements. Keeping in mind that you will be covered on both the practical and the theoretical theory of potions making on your OWL exam we have a few choices. We can leave the schedule as it is, and take three lessons a week to work on theory and two for practical's, or vice versa if you feel you are versed better in theory than practical or we can take off your extra two library blocks on Saturday and do four hours of practical's then, as long as all of you can brew several potions at once. Or if you like, we can petition for time-turners for you all, since you'll be using them to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner anyway and go back twelve and a half hours on Saturday's only and use that as your brewing period and we would set up another room for you to brew in." he said, knowing that with it being four Ravenclaws in question, as well as Mr. Potter and Miss Granger who had previous experience with time-turners that they would take the final option. "Of course you would be allowed to keep you time-turners for yourselves until your last OWL has been taken." He said, throwing in the deal sealer. "It would allow you several extra study hours a day if done right as well as a full night's rest."

As expected he saw the Ravenclaws eyes fill with excitement at the prospect of getting more study hours out of a week than could be physically possible without a time-tuner. One by one they all voiced their agreements, even Harry and Hermione, who didn't think it should be common knowledge that they already had a time-turner to share among them.

"Very well then." He said, pulling out five time-turners from his pocket, handing them to all the Ravenclaws and Harry, mentioning something about Hermione and Harry being able to share a time-turner which was taken in stride. "If you don't mind I would like to do a practical lesson today for the two hours I have you and then we'll start back on theory Wednesday when you have your next Potions class." He said, motioning for them to clear their desks before waving his hand in the direction of his bag that he had carried into the classroom as forty eight cauldrons lined up before the students at four apiece.

"Today you will be brewing the Pepper-Up Potion, a Calming Draught, the Grand Pepper-Up Potion, and a Sleeping Draught. Everyone is to do two batches of each. One you will be able to keep and the other will go the hospital wing. The ingredients have already been prepared as far as dicing and chopping to save on time since this is a personal project for you all and in the cupboard over there." He said, pointing to a giant cupboard they had not noticed yesterday upon entering the class room. "Should you start running low just let me know and I can brew some for you on my own time, as we will need the rest of the time to work on what you have covered so far the past several years." He said as they started to get to work on their potions, catching Hermione and Harry as the Ravenclaws made a beeline for the storage cupboard.

"Professor McGonagall told me that you have already made the potions so if you don't mind, I'll just send a quarter of your vials to the hospital wing, and it should keep Madam Pompfrey in stock until at least October of next year." He said, chuckling before smiling when they voiced their approval. "Wonderful, off you go then." He said, as they hurried to catch up to their Ravenclaw counterparts at the storage cupboard before gathering the ever familiar ingredients that they had just purchased and used over the past weekend before they started the process of brewing the four potions required of them that day.

Using the time-turner more than they had anticipated meant they would be using more Pepper-Up potion than they thought they would as well as being required to sleep more which meant they would need their Sleeping Draught more as the more Pepper-Up a person had in their system the less likely they were to get a decent night's sleep. It was a blessing in disguise that Professor Slughorn already knew about the potions they had brewed in the privacy of the girl's unused bathroom; it looked like they would be using a lot more of the potions than they originally anticipated.

With a vial of pepper-up potion poured down their throats once again, they were all able to quickly and efficiently brew the Pepper-Up Potion, a Calming Draught, the Grand Pepper-Up Potion, and a Sleeping Draught in double batches, all within the two hour time frame that was allotted for their first Potion's practical of their OWL review sessions.

True to his word, Professor Slughorn only took a quarter of Hermione and Harry's potions, leaving them with a lot more of the Pepper-Ups, Calming Draught, and Sleeping Draught than they had ever originally anticipated as they started the very slow process of decanting the potions as quickly and as carefully as they could. From the Hospital Wing's vials Professor Slughorn took a vial from each student to judge for clarity and accuracy, which they were told would be returned to them fully graded before or right after their break on Tuesday.

As they waited for their Muggle Studies review session professor to make an appearance, as only Harry and Hermione were in this class, they began talking once again for plans for the near future.

"We have a lot of papers to write that are due within this week and we'll also have to use the time-turners to go to our private sessions with Ms. Raven for our extra review of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes Monday thru Thursday and that session alone will require at least a handful of Pepper-Up's and a Grand Pepper-Up quite easily and it starts _today _Harry. So the potions we got to brew in our review session where just dumb luck if you ask me." Hermione said, glad when Harry agreed with her, he had forgotten that his extra review sessions for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes started at six am, once they used the time-turner that was.

When their instructor walked in, carrying two rather large packets, both of which were dropped off in front of Hermione and Harry with a thud and a grin in their direction.

"I did some digging into your records; you're either muggle-raised or muggle-born. If you can complete this entire packet, you are more than prepared for your OWL, in fact, if you complete this packet at the level I expect you to complete it, then I could probably recommend that you take your OWL now and sit your INEWT in July or August just to get it out of the way. Your last Muggle Studies class this week is Friday this week from one in the afternoon until five thirty at 5:30 in the evening. If you can complete this entire packet by three that afternoon then I will be thoroughly impressed and will personally take you to sit your OWL for Muggle Studies right then and there, so you won't have to worry about sitting it during the regular time frame. "She said, handing them several books, even though she knew they wouldn't need them.

"Finish the packet. If it's done before class on Friday owl it to me, be sure to shrink it and I'll get back to you and let you know what your scores are. Don't worry about attending class on Wednesday or Thursday, you'll be far too busy to do so. I advise you head straight to the library to get started on your packet as it will take you almost the entire week to finish it, even if you work on it a little bit each day." She said, once again dismissing them long before time for their class to be over with, as both students made a bee-line to the library, glad to find Terry Boot sitting at the table they had commandeered the night before, pouring over his Astronomy textbook. He was so absorbed in his book that he barely acknowledged they sat down, expect when they slid him a Pepper-Up potion which earned them a grin before they all settled back into the work they had come to start on in the deserted corner of the library.


	9. Time Turners and Pepper-Ups

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER NINE: Time Turners and Pepper-Ups**

* * *

They woke the next morning, a Monday in fact, feeling only slightly groggy but Hermione knew that once they started using the Pepper-Up Potion, and kept on using it, it would take care of that in a heartbeat. Knowing that they only had an hour until they had to be in the classroom Hermione made sure Harry was awake before taking a rather quick shower and dressing in her standard Hogwarts robes. Shortly after she entered the Common Room she found Harry waiting for her, which made her happy that he had managed to finish before she had; usually he took longer to get ready, even though she had much longer hair than he did.

"Nice to see you're already here." She said, giving him a smile as she picked up her school bag. "Why don't we go ahead and head on down to the classroom? We can look over the syllabus and see what we'll be going over for today." She said, looking in his direction for his reply.

"Sounds good, don't forget that the Professors are more than likely going to be supplying our Pepper-Ups but I brought a few vials just in case." He said, motioning to his pocket where she could barely see the outline of a vial within.

"Sounds good." She replied as they exited the common room and made their way to the third floor corridor, not surprised to find that the Ravenclaws where slowly trickling in. Once they all took their seats their breakfast appeared before them, and considering it was only four forty they had plenty of time to eat before their lessons started. Considering the fact they all ate rather quickly by the time they finished they still had ten minutes left before their first potions review began, they began to talk.

"We didn't get full introductions yesterday. I'm Terry Boot, this is Anthony Goldstein," he said motioning to the only other male Ravenclaw in the room," and these are Padma Patil and Lisa Turpin." He said, who were easy enough to tell apart as Parvati Patil, Padma's twin sister, was in Gryffindor and was the spitting image of her identical twin sister.

"Hermione Granger and Harry Potter," Hermione said, more out of curtsey than anything else, as most of the student body knew who they were by now. That was mainly due to their antics each year and the fact Hermione always held the number one spot in the school.

"We were wondering Hermione, how on earth did the Sorting Hat not put you in Ravenclaw? You always have the top spot every year." This came from Lisa Turpin, a rather small female that had blonde hair, a more natural shade than what the Malfoy's claimed.

"It considered me for Ravenclaw but said Gryffindor would suit me better." Was all she said on the matter as most people knew what was talked about at the Sorting Ceremony was considered private.

"Not surprising then. Has anyone heard of a Horus Slughorn, who is going to be doing our Potions Review?" Lisa asked, glancing at the others who all shook their heads in the negative. "Apparently he used to teach at Hogwarts's. I wonder how much of our schedule for him will be theoretical and how much will be practical?" she asked, just as a deep voice came from behind them in reply.

"Well Miss Turpin that will be up to the six of you. We have some things to discuss before we start with our lesson but if you'll all stand I want to do away with all but the first row of seating. There isn't a point for stadium seating when there are six of you and you're all sitting on the front row." He said, as they all turned to get a good look at him, finding him to be like the picture that was next to his column in Potions Weekly for those who read it.

Once the sitting situation had been taking care of they quickly resituated themselves into the six seats that where left which were set up similar to the tables in their Potion's classroom, expect for the fact they had chairs and their brewing tables.

Once he had situated himself in the chair provided for him, which he had brought around in front of his desk so that he was on the opposite side of their table, he began talking again.

"The program itself requires five sessions per class which is why after five thirty on Saturday you are free. By then you have meet all your requirements. Keeping in mind that you will be covered on both the practical and the theoretical theory of potions making on your OWL exam we have a few choices. We can leave the schedule as it is, and take three lessons a week to work on theory and two for practical's, or vice versa if you feel you are versed better in theory than practical or we can take off your extra two library blocks on Saturday and do four hours of practical's then, as long as all of you can brew several potions at once. Or if you like, we can petition for time-turners for you all, since you'll be using them to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner anyway and go back twelve and a half hours on Saturday's only and use that as your brewing period and we would set up another room for you to brew in." he said, knowing that with it being four Ravenclaws in question, as well as Mr. Potter and Miss Granger who had previous experience with time-turners that they would take the final option. "Of course you would be allowed to keep you time-turners for yourselves until your last OWL has been taken." He said, throwing in the deal sealer. "It would allow you several extra study hours a day if done right as well as a full night's rest."

As expected he saw the Ravenclaws eyes fill with excitement at the prospect of getting more study hours out of a week than could be physically possible without a time-tuner. One by one they all voiced their agreements, even Harry and Hermione, who didn't think it should be common knowledge that they already had a time-turner to share among them.

"Very well then." He said, pulling out five time-turners from his pocket, handing them to all the Ravenclaws and Harry, mentioning something about Hermione and Harry being able to share a time-turner which was taken in stride. "If you don't mind I would like to do a practical lesson today for the two hours I have you and then we'll start back on theory Wednesday when you have your next Potions class." He said, motioning for them to clear their desks before waving his hand in the direction of his bag that he had carried into the classroom as forty eight cauldrons lined up before the students at four apiece.

"Today you will be brewing the Pepper-Up Potion, a Calming Draught, the Grand Pepper-Up Potion, and a Sleeping Draught. Everyone is to do two batches of each. One you will be able to keep and the other will go the hospital wing. The ingredients have already been prepared as far as dicing and chopping to save on time since this is a personal project for you all and in the cupboard over there." He said, pointing to a giant cupboard they had not noticed yesterday upon entering the class room. "Should you start running low just let me know and I can brew some for you on my own time, as we will need the rest of the time to work on what you have covered so far the past several years." He said as they started to get to work on their potions, catching Hermione and Harry as the Ravenclaws made a beeline for the storage cupboard.

"Professor McGonagall told me that you have already made the potions so if you don't mind, I'll just send a quarter of your vials to the hospital wing, and it should keep Madam Pompfrey in stock until at least October of next year." He said, chuckling before smiling when they voiced their approval. "Wonderful, off you go then." He said, as they hurried to catch up to their Ravenclaw counterparts at the storage cupboard before gathering the ever familiar ingredients that they had just purchased and used over the past weekend before they started the process of brewing the four potions required of them that day.

Using the time-turner more than they had anticipated meant they would be using more Pepper-Up potion than they thought they would as well as being required to sleep more which meant they would need their Sleeping Draught more as the more Pepper-Up a person had in their system the less likely they were to get a decent night's sleep. It was a blessing in disguise that Professor Slughorn already knew about the potions they had brewed in the privacy of the girl's unused bathroom; it looked like they would be using a lot more of the potions than they originally anticipated.

With a vial of pepper-up potion poured down their throats once again, they were all able to quickly and efficiently brew the Pepper-Up Potion, a Calming Draught, the Grand Pepper-Up Potion, and a Sleeping Draught in double batches, all within the two hour time frame that was allotted for their first Potion's practical of their OWL review sessions.

True to his word, Professor Slughorn only took a quarter of Hermione and Harry's potions, leaving them with a lot more of the Pepper-Ups, Calming Draught, and Sleeping Draught than they had ever originally anticipated as they started the very slow process of decanting the potions as quickly and as carefully as they could. From the Hospital Wing's vials Professor Slughorn took a vial from each student to judge for clarity and accuracy, which they were told would be returned to them fully graded before or right after their break on Tuesday.

As they waited for their Muggle Studies review session professor to make an appearance, as only Harry and Hermione were in this class, they began talking once again for plans for the near future.

"We have a lot of papers to write that are due within this week and we'll also have to use the time-turners to go to our private sessions with Ms. Raven for our extra review of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes Monday thru Thursday and that session alone will require at least a handful of Pepper-Up's and a Grand Pepper-Up quite easily and it starts _today _Harry. So the potions we got to brew in our review session where just dumb luck if you ask me." Hermione said, glad when Harry agreed with her, he had forgotten that his extra review sessions for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes started at six am, once they used the time-turner that was.

When their instructor walked in, carrying two rather large packets, both of which were dropped off in front of Hermione and Harry with a thud and a grin in their direction.

"I did some digging into your records; you're either muggle-raised or muggle-born. If you can complete this entire packet, you are more than prepared for your OWL, in fact, if you complete this packet at the level I expect you to complete it, then I could probably recommend that you take your OWL now and sit your INEWT in July or August just to get it out of the way. Your last Muggle Studies class this week is Friday this week from one in the afternoon until five thirty at 5:30 in the evening. If you can complete this entire packet by three that afternoon then I will be thoroughly impressed and will personally take you to sit your OWL for Muggle Studies right then and there, so you won't have to worry about sitting it during the regular time frame. "She said, handing them several books, even though she knew they wouldn't need them.

"Finish the packet. If it's done before class on Friday owl it to me, be sure to shrink it and I'll get back to you and let you know what your scores are. Don't worry about attending class on Wednesday or Thursday, you'll be far too busy to do so. I advise you head straight to the library to get started on your packet as it will take you almost the entire week to finish it, even if you work on it a little bit each day." She said, once again dismissing them long before time for their class to be over with, as both students made a bee-line to the library, glad to find Terry Boot sitting at the table they had commandeered the night before, pouring over his Astronomy textbook. He was so absorbed in his book that he barely acknowledged they sat down, expect when they slid him a Pepper-Up potion which earned them a grin before they all settled back into the work they had come to start on in the deserted corner of the library.


	10. Muggle Studies, Studies

**She Walked Away **

**CHAPTER TEN: **Muggle Studies

* * *

Authoress Note: The Sumerian information was taken from Wikipieda

* * *

The packet they had been handed for Muggle Studies was rather thick for only covering three years out of five of their time at Hogwarts. Upon closer inspection of the packet they realized why their Muggle Studies professor said she would be thoroughly impressed if they could finish it by Friday. The packet held eight papers that had to be written all of which were of substantial length, eight multiple choice tests, and eight fill-in-the blank tests as well as copious amounts of notes that started all the way back in the Third Year Muggle Studies class up to Seventh Year, which surprised Hermione slightly.

"Let's go ahead and do the multiple choice tests and the fill-in-the-blank tests. From there we can space out our papers with our other papers we have to write. I doubt the Muggle Studies papers would be too complex for us, other than finding sources and the first two aren't going to need sources. The topics are '_What is the importance of taking Muggle Studies?' _and '_What is the Importance and Relevance to the International Statue of Secrecy in Relation to Both Magical Folk and Muggles_.'" Hermione said, pulling free the multiple choice tests and fill-in-the-blank tests and setting the rest of the folder aside. "We have an hour and a half until we have to be in Herbology, which should be plenty of time to finish almost all of these, if not all of them."

True to their guess their Muggle Studies multiple choice tests where easy enough to answer, as most of the questions regarded electricity, lawn mowers, food processors and things that both Hermione and Harry had grown up with and thought was relatively normal.

With the multiple choice tests finished in just under twenty minutes they moved onto the fill-in-the-blank tests, which they were given a word bank for. Even without the word bank they managed to finish the fill-in-the-blank tests by the end of another twenty minutes.

"We have thirty minutes until we have to head over for our History of Magic course, which should be enough time to at least get started on the rough draft for the first Muggle Studies paper." Harry said, after glancing at his wrist watch before dipping his quill into the ink and began writing on why he thought it was important to take Muggle Studies, using some of the Weasley's antics as examples, even if he didn't have the greatest home life with muggles.

Surprisingly enough he found it very therapeutic to write this paper for some reason and managed to get a rough draft that was longer than Hermione's before they had to leave the library to make their way to the floor of Hogwarts that their courses were being held on.

"The length was only set at six parchment sheets Harry. Yours is already eight sheets long, I'd say find a way to wrap your paper up and then start on the draft you want to turn in. Mine's only going to be nine sheets of parchment long and my rough draft is almost finished." She said, surprised at the length of his essay in such a sort amount of time.

"It was easy enough. I was raised by muggles, and have seen wizards that haven't had a lot of interaction with muggles so it gave me a lot of material to write on." He said, as they turned along a corridor that gave them a short cut to get to third floor corridor without having to worry about running into Professor Umbridge.

Their History of Magic professor, a Professor Bonnie Draconis, was already inside the classroom and had placed six thick packets on the only six desks in the room before sitting down in a chair that was placed right across from their desks.

"I realized I never properly introduced myself. My name's Bonnie Draconis, I prefer to be called Bonnie in all honesty as I'm not that much older than all of you. I realize there is a lot to cover because even I struggled to take my OWL and NEWT's under Professor Binn's and it took a lot of outside classroom time to even attempt to pass them as he only covers the Goblin Wars, and barley even touches on the Witch Burnings, the evolution of Spell Creation, which will be on your OWL's as it's on there every year, the evolution of the wand and what came before the wand, the founders of Hogwarts he doesn't even cover at _all _and they **will **show up on your OWL's as well. Hermione and Harry, you are the only two taking Muggle Studies correct?" she asked, turning to face the two students who were always glued at the hip.

"Yes ma'am." Hermione said, attempting to retract her ma'am when Bonnie shot her a look, "err…Bonnie." She said, blushing at such a blatant show of disrespect, even if she was told to do so.

"Good. Your instructor has already told me that as long as you finish the packet by Friday, he plans on taking you to go ahead and sit your OWL this Friday. Do you honestly think you can finish your packet by Friday? We'll need the Muggle Studies time slot just to get you all up to speed so you'll pass your OWL's." she said, shaking her head at the thought of Professor Binn's not being removed when he should have been; the day he died!

"Yes ma'am we'll manage. We have all the tests finished and we just have to finish seven more papers; two of which are opinion based." Harry said, glad to see Bonnie nod her head in agreement.

"Alright then, owl me as soon as you turn your Muggle Studies work in and we'll start with the extra History of Magic review sessions now since you don't turn your work in until Friday." She said, before having them turn their attention to their History of Magic packets. "You have gone over the Goblin Wars extensively, as well as the International Statue of Secrecy so there is no point in going back over those although if you want a review the last week ,feel free to ask for it. For now, we'll start with the Sumerians. They will take us this entire week as they are vital to the true _History of Magic _courses. The Sumerians probably came from the area of Anatolia, and arrived in Mesopotamia about 3300 BC. As successful trade developed with the surrounding areas, the Sumerian villages and settlements grew into prosperous city-states, such as Ur, Eridu, Lagash, Nippur and Uruk.

By the third millennium BC the Sumerians had founded about 12 separate city-states (Kish, Erech, Ur, Sippar, Akshak, Larak, Nippur, Adab, Umma, Lagash, Bad-tibira, and Larsa). Each of these states had a walled city with surrounding villages and land, and each worshipped its own deity, whose temple was at the center of the city.

The Sumerian language became the major language of the region. Political power originally belonged to all the citizens, but as settlements grew into city-states and rivalry between the various city-states increased, each adopted a system of kings. Various city-states and their dynasties of kings temporarily gained power at different times. The first king to unite the separate city-states was Etana, ruler of Kish (c. 2800 BC). After this, the cities of Kish, Erech, Ur, and Lagash started to fight with each other in order to gain power. These struggles lasted for hundreds of years and weakened the Sumerian nation, making it vulnerable to conquerors from abroad. First Sumeria was invaded by the Elamites (c. 2530-2450 BC) and later by the Akkadians (2334-2279 BC). Although Akkadian's dynasty lasted only about 100 years, it united the city-states and created a model of government that influenced all of Middle Eastern civilization.

After Akkadian's dynasty ended and Sumeria recovered from a devastating invasion by the Gutians, the citystates once again became independent. The high point of this final era of Sumerian civilization was the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur, whose first king, Ur-Nammu, published the earliest law code yet discovered in Mesopotamia. After 1900 BC, when another population, the Amorites, conquered all of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians lost

their separate identity, but their culture was adopted by their invaders. Their inventions and spell-creation eras went beyond anything we have seen in the past recent decades other than the age of Merlin, Aruthur and Morgan le Fay and finally the Era of the Founders: Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and finally Salazar Slytherin. With that being said, your homework is to write a paper on the Sumerians which will be due tomorrow as there are plenty of source material on them between the notes you'll get later today and what is within the library. Your second homework is to write a paper on the Four Founders of Hogwarts and their personal achievements both through the school and in their respective fields this will be due Wednesday. Due Thursday will be a paper on Casandra Emory, who you will be able to find countless auto-biographies, journals, papers and books written about. With that being said I will see you all in two hours for your next class. We'll probably only stay half the time to give you time in the library." She said, as she started packing up her supplies as their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher entered the classroom.


	11. Curious Projects

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Curious Projects**

* * *

Defense Against the Dark Arts proved it was going to be a tough course as well. Their teacher used to be an apprentice of Professor Moody and he believed in '_Constant Vigilance' _as well. As soon as Professor Crow walked into the classroom he silently charmed all their hair to be neon green, which none of them noticed until after he announced his presence.

"You will notice that your hair is green, neon green in fact. When you find the counter-curse it will go away, and not before; you will learn that Alastor Moody was my mentor and '_Constant Vigilance'_ has been ingrained in me and you can put your wands away for now. I know your past DADA instruction has been piss-poor to put it nicely, but you have to know the theory behind the wand work for it to work for you properly and I am not talking about the _theory _that Umbridge had you learning in class. This is going to be one of your harder courses because aside from your Third Year and Fourth Year you have not had competent instructors. This first week and possibly the second will find you very, very busy with papers and tests. I have to see where you stand so I know what to cover. For now your assignments are as follows. First, the first person or persons to get their hair back to their regular color gets _fifty points _apiece to their respective house. Second, you are all to write papers on the following. Werewolves, Cornish Pixies, Dementors, the Magical Theory of Defensive Spells, the Magical Theory of Defense Against Dark Creatures and finally the Magical Theory of Defense Against the Dark Arts all of these are due exactly a week from now. From there you will each have a topic to research that has been assigned individually to you." He said, pulling a sheet of paper from his pocket before he began speaking again.

"Potter, you will cover the Dark Mark. Boot, you will cover Cursed Wounds. Granger, you will cover Soul Magic, the good and the bad. Goldstein, you will cover Potion Poisons. Turpin, you will cover Herbology Poisons. Patil, you will cover what are considered Dark Creatures. The paper can be as long as you need it to be but it will be a minimum of fifteen parchment pages. It is due two weeks from today. If you can manage to work on a second paper of the same magnitude at the same time it would be helpful because once you turn that paper in, you will have to write a second paper on defenses against whatever form of magic I have assigned you, and or how to remove it or at least attempt to heal it. You will find, some of it cannot be fully healed, only partially or not at all. Potter and Granger, your books had to be special ordered from the Ministry but they are yours to keep, curtiosey of Hogwarts. We have already applied for a license for you for these books as well as the more advanced Magical Theory books that you will need for your Defense Against the Dark Arts Magical Theory paper." He said before digging around in a bag at his side and handing each student several rather large, leather bound books.

"The first is your planner; you'll have too much to do to be able to keep up with it inside your head. The second is a personal journal for you to hopefully keep you all from going insane now that you've realized the amount of work you've taken on. The third is a study journal or log if you like. Take five pages per subject, ten, however many you think you need but it's post-bound so you can move things around if need be. In your study journal log what time you are in your Review Session, log what time you started on your assignments and practice tests and how long it took you. For your two major research projects, leave plenty of room to log information as it will take a lot of time, but rumor has it that you'll have plenty of time with your study aids." He said, grinning at them before looking at Terry's time-turner which was sticking out from his shirt. "You are dismissed. I would head to the library and gather your books from Madam Pince as they just came in. You have an hour and forty five minutes until your second History of Magic course starts for the day so that should be plenty of time to at least get your books from Madam Pince and get them back to your dorms or start doing some cursory research if you so desire." He said, dismissing them until their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class on Wednesday.

As the group of six students began the trek back to the library they were intercepted by Professor McGonagall who gave them a small smile at how haggard they looked.

"I have already gathered your books from Madam Pince for you. It has been decided to reopen a corridor next to Ravenclaw Tower so the six of you will have the privacy to come and go as you please because your schedules are so much different from the other students and a lot heavier." She said, watching as their eyes lit up before they started firing questions at her a mile a minute which she silenced with one look.

They followed her through several stair case changes and several corridor changes before they reached the corridor that held Ravenclaw Tower and, now, their private quarters. She stopped in front of a picture of a young girl that looked a lot like Lily Potter nee Evans must have looked like when she was younger before stating '_Draconis_' and entering the portrait hole.


	12. Merlin's Tower

**CHAPTER TWELVE:** Merlin Tower

* * *

The common room was done tastefully in a mix of reds, gold's, blue's and bronze shades to show the intermingling of the two houses the students usually occupied during their time at Hogwarts. There was a larger fire place than in either house common room and the walls were lined with bookcases that stood half full.

"This is your Common Room, the tower's name is Merlin Tower although most students don't know it exists,but as you can see there are enough couches and chairs for all of you as well as a fire place to help heat the room. Boy's dorms are on the left and down, girl's dorms are on the right and down. Because there are so few of you, there are only two to a room and you are free to pick your own roommates and swap as desired as long as they stay within the same gender. One of the girl's will wind up not having a roommate Harry, Headmaster Dumbledore has given the okay for Ron to move into this dormitory so that you and Hermione can help him study for his OWL's if he approves. Off each bedroom are either two or one offices, depending on which room you take. Your office is large enough that it has been sub-divided to allow you an office and brewing room and still give you ample space for your extra books that you have accumulated during your time at Hogwarts. The office has already been thoroughly stocked with supplies, muggle and magical, to help you study more efficiently and are yours to keep once you leave Hogwarts, if there is any left. The potions room has also been thoroughly stocked as well, and I do mean thoroughly and is yours to take with you when you leave Hogwarts." The usually stern professor said before handing them each something the size of a muggle bank card.

"These are from the Governors of Hogwarts as a gift and to help you in your studies. It is a gift card to both _Flourish and Blott's _and _Tomes and Scroll's _for the amount of 300 Galleons each. It does not have to be used in its entirety this term as it does not expire. Your fire place is connected to the floo network but it is only connected to Hogsmead Village and Diagon Alley. I would advise you take your library hours this evening and head to the both bookstores to get you started on your new book collection. From there you have 200 Galleons worth of credit at the Apothecary in Diagon Alley that will not allow you to go over. The books needed for your special Defense Against the Darks Arts project are on individual shelves. You will all receive a copy of _The Daily Prophet, The Quibbler, Potion's Masters Weekly & Monthly, Transfiguration Weekly and Monthly, Charms Weekly and Monthly, _as well as several others as some current events do show up on your OWL's and you have access to the library through the floo network as well. You may either send Madam Pince a list of topics or the books you need or go yourself depending on how busy you are. I will leave you all to get settled in before your next History of Magic course. Do enjoy this, it is meant as a treat, even if you'll be studying until you're exhausted." She said, as she turned to leave she turned back to look at them before grimacing. "You may want to take a Grand Pepper-Up, it looks like you're overdue for your next dose and attempt to do something about your hair before you go to get your extra books this evening." She said, before leaving them to explore their new quarters.

* * *

True to Professor McGonagall's word the bedrooms held two four-poster beds each with curtains that could be charmed any color they could possibly desire. Next to each bed were a chest of drawers and a full size walk in closet where all their uniforms and muggle clothing hung, which made them wonder why such a room wasn't usually given out to students when they first started Hogwarts.

From there they went in separate directions into the offices and brewing rooms, which Professor McGonagall seemed to have understated. To say the desk was fully stocked was an understatement. Each desk was half the length of one wall made of solid oak. On top of the desk was a hutch that held tape, staplers, stacks and stacks of parchment and an entire compartment of the hutch was a full as it could possibly get with ink wells of different weights and even colors for their personal notes. Inspecting the inside of the drawers showed spiral notebooks by the dozens as well ten bound journals with pristine pages. Next to the desk sat a plastic storage container that was filled to the brim with quills, pens, pencils, markers, and colored pencils in the top drawer. The second drawer held white copy paper and colored copy paper, also filled to the brim and the third drawer held more of the same. The fourth drawer held paper clips, staples, push pins that went with a bulletin board that was over their desk, a ruler, and several other odds and ends. The fifth, and final, drawer held index cards by the thousand. There were index cards that were solid colors, packs that were mixed colors, plain white ones, and then index cards that had colored lines and a solid stripe across the top along with bags and bags of index card rings of various sizes. From there the rest of the office space was lined with as many bookcases as they could possibly add that extended from floor to ceiling that already had a good number of books on them.

Moving over into the second section of the room found them with a fully stocked potions room. There was a walk in cupboard that held, from first glance, at least a few thousand potion ingredients. Moving back into the room found six empty cabinets just waiting to be filled with potions of their own making or bought from a Potion's Master. The worktable was larger than they used in their Potion's classroom and already held six different cauldrons, with the Bunsen burners sitting underneath ready for use.

* * *

Once they all reconvened in the Common Room, they went about working on their room assignments.

"If you don't mind Harry I'd like to room with Anthony. I've already roomed with him for five years and we can get along without killing each other and seeing as you and Ron are best mates ..." Terry said; glad to see when he got a nod in return; which meant that Harry would have the single room. He actually preferred this after having to share a dorm with Ron for so long.

"Same here Hermione. I've gotten so used to sharing with Lisa that it makes more sense for you to have the single room. Besides, your book collection will probably spill over from your office into your room once you fill up all the shelves." Padma Patil said; glad to see that Hermione took her joke for what it was.

"This coming from a Ravenclaw, I'm wounded." Hermione said, clutching at her heart as if she had been shot through it which earned her a laugh from everyone in the room. "Now that that's settled however, we still have thirty minutes before we have to be at our next History of Magic class. I'd say let's grab our books and start making our way there and we still have to find a way to fix our hair later."


	13. Bookstores and Friendships

**She Walked Away  
Chapter Thirteen: Bookstores and Friendships  
**

* * *

_Authoress Note: I'm reworking several chapters, not by much, to include Ron a lot more as I've figured out another way I can take this that will have him come into play earlier than Chapter 27 which is where he __**really **__came into play before the editing. _**  
**

* * *

After their History of Magic class they had Ancient Runes again, which made a little more sense to Harry today than it did on Sunday, even if he was still a little bit confused on some of the symbols, but he knew he would go over them again later, or earlier depending on how you looked at it, in the day.

Their Care of Magical Creatures class, they found out from Professor Boot, would be strictly theory until the last month and then they would combine theory and practical to make sure they would do fine on their practical test.

"Today's lesson is rather simple and won't require you to be here the entire course time." He said, as they started eating the dinner that had been provided for them courtesy of the Hogwarts house elves. "I want two papers from you before your next class. The first is going to be on the Magical Theory of Magical Creatures. How do they get their magic, what can extinguish their magic, and how they can make their magic stronger. What's magical stronger? What's magical weaker? It has to at least be at least two and half parchment pages but I am honestly expecting more from the six of you since you received your time-turners. Use as much parchment as you feel is necessary to cover the topic but do not digress into other topics unless it ties into what you are working on. The second paper is to be on a magical creature that would be considered a pest. Pixies, Garden Gnomes, Basilisk's things like that; argue both sides. Go into detail on its breeding habits, maternal habits and instincts , food it eats, habitats, and it's magical properties as well as if they are used in Potions , Herbology, or Healing etc. You must choose three different creatures to do in one paper. Once you get that done we'll move on but for now you are dismissed for the day. Here's a list of magical creatures that you may not have thought about to cover for what's stronger and weaker." He said, handing them each a list that was three pages long, front and back.

"We'll use this list throughout the course so hang on to it. Madam Pince will be able to help if you can't find a specific book you need. Now if you like you can go ahead and start your Herbology class as I told Professor Sprout we wouldn't be long." He said, watching as they all nodded in agreement as they watched Professor Sprout suddenly materialize as Professor Boot exited the classroom.

"We'll be covering theory at least the first week. From there we will branch out and do practicals and theory to cover some stuff we haven't covered in a while. For now I have a few papers for you to start on and then you're free to go to get the books you'll need for your individual projects or supplemental reading that are within your packets. The first paper is on Self-Fertilizing Shrubs, the second is on the Mandrake, and the third is on Water Plants, you'll need to cover at least four different kinds of plants for your Self-Fertilizing Shrub and Water Plant papers but only three parchment pages each are required but it can be longer as you need it to be. Inside all of your syllabi is a '_Recommended Reading List'_ for your OWL's that will help you but are not stocked here at Hogwarts. For now you are dismissed but I would work on getting your Recommend Reading Lists put together this evening and start working on your papers for all of your classes." She said, glad for the students that they had finished their second day by six fifteen instead of nine like it had been scheduled to.

Since it was so early they decided as a group to head back to their personal tower and get a jump start on heading to _Flourish and Blott's _and _Tomes and Scrolls _with the rather large booklists they had received in just a two day span.

"Hermione, why don't you and Harry do the book run since you'll probably be able to find a few extra books that would be useful for us while you're at it and the rest of us can get started on getting our things put up in our rooms. We'll have your rooms set up for you if you like." Terry asked, as it was common knowledge that Hermione kept a running book list on subjects that caught her attention or books that she pulled from appendixes of other books.

"Are you sure about that? It'd probably run through at least one hundred Galleons of your gift card if I got you copies of what is on my running book list." Hermione said, knowing that she devoured books faster than most people could ever dream of doing.

"That's fine. If they were in the appendixes they got there for a reason." He said, dismissing her concern of spending so much of their gift cards. "Harry the guys and I will have your room set up when you get back and Lisa and Padma will have yours set up for you Hermione. It may not be exactly the way you like it but at least it will be finished. Speaking of setting up the rooms, Hermione I know you tend to keep a lot of books. Do you want those books in your bedroom bookcases or your office bookcases?" he asked, knowing she was peculiar about her books.

"Put them in the office for now; I'll figure out a system when Harry and I get back from the bookstore. Do any of you need quills or anything along those lines?" she asked, even though she knew their offices had been fully stocked as well. When she received a reply in the negative, both she had Harry grabbed a pinch of floo powder and just before shouting out _Diagon Alley _she threw over her shoulder "a _finte_ should change your hair color back to normal" just as they walked out the common room door, intent on finding Ron who should be at dinner.

* * *

Entering the Great Hall they were able to spot Ron who surprisingly, wasn't eating at his usual pace, and actually had his nose in a book; it looked like Mrs. Weasley's threat had succeeded like she wanted it to.

"Hey, Ron, you about done?" Hermione asked, motioning to the abandoned, almost empty plate in front of him.

"Yeah, I was actually about to head to the ," here he paused as if the word was rather foreign to him "library to get a few books I need for my paper." He grabbed his bag before they exited the Great Hall once again and made the more familiar trek to the library.

Once secluded in their private study corral Harry spoke first.

"Professor McGonagall has given us permission to have you join us in Merlin Tower." He said, cutting to the chase as he looked at Ron, who didn't look all that surprised.

"Yeah she mentioned it to me. She offered to pay for me to take the Advanced Revision Session with you guys as well. You know monetary was the only reason I didn't take it." Ron said, blushing as red as his hair at his admission.

"Are you going to take her up on it?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry, thinking about the gift cards they had just been given, as well as the fully stocked potions room, both of which Ron could benefit from.

"Yeah, I've already sent her an owl about it about an hour ago." Ron said, looking at the one window in their study corral as if he was expecting her reply any minute, which he probably was.

"Well let's go find her first and then Harry and I were headed to _Flourish and Blott's _to pick up a few book orders for everyone in the Advanced program." Hermione said, knowing that Professor McGonagall would be in her office at this time of day.

* * *

As it turns out they didn't have to go far as they ran into Professor McGonagall as they were trying to exit the library.

"Mr. Weasley, inside the folder is the syllabi for the Advanced Program as well as the _Required Reading List _and the _Recommended Reading List_ both of which are rather long. Just hand them to the clerk at _Flourish and Blott's _and she'll pull all the books for you, they have already been paid for so no complaining about the length of the lists. Included is also a 300 Galleon Gift card to _Flourish and Blott's _as well as _Tomes and Scrolls. _You also have _200 Galleons _worth of credit at the Apothecary. What you don't use this term is still yours to keep. With that being said, I have already sent in your booklists and Hogwarts will be covering the cost of all three of your booklists as well as anything else you think would be helpful Hermione, I trust you to use your best judgment as I know you won't take advantage of it but you'll need several tomes on History of Magic if you intend to pass your OWL, Professor Bin's," she said the name as if it was poison and wasn't worth the title of Professor, "Leaves out anything that didn't happen before the 1700's if memory serves right and there are recent events on the OWL's in comparison to what he teaches." She said, before looking pensively at Ron, "Tell Miss Matthews, Madam Matthews to you, that you'll need an Advanced potions room stocked, I've already sent her an owl so it should almost be ready for you by the time you get there, no money should change hands over that." She said, giving them all a pointed look before she pointed her wand at Harry and Hermione's head and saying '_finite incatarum' _before their hair returned to normal just as they stepped through her floo network.

* * *

Once inside _Flourish and Blotts _they handed their book list and extra book lists over to the cashier who simply gave them a sympathetic look, as she knew they had chosen the Advanced Option for their OWL Revision Schedule by the book titles before she began filling their order as they started to browse.

Starting on the top floor of _Flourish and Blott's _Hermione found several titles on Arithmancy that would come in handy for extra practice and for helping Harry get caught up in the course which were entitled: _Arithmancy Refresher Course, OWL-level Arithmancy Problem Sets, NEWT-level Arithmancy Problem Sets, _and _Magical Theory Behind Arithmancy. _From there Hermione pulled at least four or five books from each subject they were taking, knowing that the work load they had received was just the beginning of the craziness that would ensue within the next two months of the courses they were taking. Books on Self-Fertilizing Shrubs, Water Plants, and Mandrakes went into her shopping cauldron as well as a new book entitled _A Witch or Wizard's Garden Companion_ and its sequel _Herbology Companion. _ From there she moved onto the Potions Section that was kept within the Herbology section oddly enough, pulling down _A Potion Master's Ingredient's Guide: Beyond 1,001 Magical Herbs and Fungi, _and _The Encyclopedia of Magical Ingredients _which looked promising, but not as much as the _Potion's Masters Guide_.

Harry was currently working on pulling books for Charms, Transfiguration and Potions books that Hermione had listed on her wanted reading list. Pulling down anything that looked like it could possibly be of help to them study for their OWL's. Upon finding a complete published set of journals from Cassandra Emory from the time she started her schooling until after she finished her Potions, Herbology, and Healing apprenticeships he knew it would be a perfect gift for Hermione for helping him as much as she had throughout their entire time at Hogwarts. The second part of his gift to her, and the rest of the students taking the Advanced Revision Schedule, was the complete set of the _Founder's Journals, _an _Auto-biography Founder's Set, _which were the only auto-biographies ever written by the Founder's and were completed ten years after Hogwarts instillation and finally, to be purchased with their gift cards, a biography set on Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin and as an added bonus Merlin and Morgan le Fey.

Placing the journal set in the very bottom of his cauldron, as it contained a different journal per subject per year she was in school or studying for her Masteries, he moved on to pulling down a few more copies of _An Anthology of Eighteenth Century & Nineteenth Century Charms, _as well as _1,001 Charms to Know Before Your OWL's, _and six copies of _The Potion Grimoire for OWL Testing _which contained every potion that had ever been tested on the OWL's and then some that could very possibly show up on future OWL's.

"Did you find everything ok?" Hermione asked, coming up beside him floating a giant stack of books that she thought, and therefore would be, helpful to study for their OWLs.

"Yes; there seems to be a strong market for OWL and NEWT preparation books; I guess we just haven't noticed them before because we weren't in our OWL year yet." Ron said, showing her his expanded shopping cauldron that was still full to the brim.

"Well let's check out and then head on over to _Tomes and Scrolls _and see if anything catches our eye." Hermione said, "I'm going to check out first. I want to get a journal from _Scribner's." _she said, not knowing that Harry was glad that she needed a new journal, it would enable him to buy the Cassandra Emory journal set without her seeing it.

Once Hermione checked out Harry divided the purchases up by who was buying and then paid for the purchases as required before pulling out the journals he wanted to purchase for Hermione, using several Galleons from his account before shrinking all his purchases and exiting _Flourish and Blott's _just as Hermione exited the quill shop with her new journal.

"I think we did well enough here that we won't have to go all the way to _Tomes and Scrolls _unless there's something you can think of that we might have missed?" Hermione asked; glad when Harry shook his head in the negative.

"We can owl order anything from there if we need to, or pick it up on a Hogsmeade weekend." He said, glad that she was ready to return to Hogwarts, as the others were probably through with their rooms by now and waiting on these books to get started in-depth on some of their papers.

* * *

Ron entered the apothecary, he had never really liked how they smelled but he needed the supplies and this was the only place in town to get them.

"You must be Ron, I'm Jessica Matthews. Please, just call me Miss Matthews none of this Madame stuff like Headmaster Dumbledore insists on." She said, practically bouncing over to a bag before floating t over to him.

"This is for you. It's got an extendable charm on it. From there," she said, motioning to three rather large boxes in the corner, "you have these three boxes, one for you and one apiece for each of your friends." She said, shrinking the boxes before adding them to the bag Ron held.

"If you need anything else just let me know and I can owl order it or hold it for you until your next visit. Thanks for shopping at Miss Matthew's Apothecary." She said, disappearing into the back room, leaving a very, very confused Ron in her wake.

That woman was worse than his mother.


	14. Stocking, Potions, and Time Turners

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Stocking, Potions and Time-Turners**

* * *

_**Six Chapters In One Day...I want Reviews for this! lol I know people are reading this**_

* * *

Returning to Hogwarts was a rather quick trip after they stopped by the cauldron store. At Hermione's insistence they purchased forty cauldrons, five a piece for each student taking the Advanced Revision Session as well as the same number of stirring rods before stepping through the floo network.

Once they stepped out of the floo network back into their private quarters they were practically mobbed for the books they had brought with them. Hermione thankfully had thought ahead and pre-divided them so she simply handed Terry, Lisa, Anthony and Padma their packages which were wrapped with brown paper and tied with a white string which they immediately opened.

Upon opening the first package they were met with the books off the _Recommended Reading List _but upon opening their second packages they were met with a wide assortment of OWL Study Guide Books, the Founder's Auto-Biographies and many more books that would be very helpful for the upcoming month and a half, including the Potion's Masters Ingredient Guide.

"Did anyone think to do an inventory on our Potion's Supply Rooms?" Hermione asked, knowing that they probably hadn't.

"No we got started on our papers right away; but you're right it would be a very good idea to at least inventory two of them to see if they're all the same." Lisa Turpin said as she marked her place in her book with a bookmark before making her way towards the stairs that held the girl's dormitories.

When she returned five minutes later with a triumphant look on her face, holding a large stack of papers, they knew that their Supply Cabinets had already been inventoried when they were placed in these rooms.

"They did a typed inventory list, which is charmed to calculate itself as we brew our own potions and even highlight itself yellow, orange, and then red the lower we get on an ingredient." She said, handing the large supply room manifest over to Hermione who began flipping through the list. Acacia, Dragon's Blood, Frankincense, Unicorn Root, Yarrow; their potion's store room had almost any herb they could dream of as well as several types of wood, metal, gemstones that where in colored glass jars, and from there came the exotic potion's ingredients; unicorn's horn, toad's eyes, and things of that nature. All in all there where close to 3,000 ingredients stored in each store room, with the promise of more as they progressed in their brewing.

"It's very well stocked; it would be even for a NEWT student who was doing private tutoring." Hermione said, wanting to verify something before she said any more. "We'll worry about that later, right now we have a load of homework that needs to be done and we finally have the right books to do the homework."

"What are you doing here Ron?" Terry asked, although there was no malice in his voice when he asked, only curiosity.

"I had wanted to take the Advanced Section from the get go but the price was a little outrageous but mum found out I wanted to take it and they made it work somehow." Ron said, not giving away more than that as Harry shot Terry a look that said drop the subject.

"Hey Ron want to see our room? Hermione and I can help you get everything set up." Harry said, glad when Ron caught on to what he was doing before they disappeared on the stairs, Hermione hot on their heels.

Ron's trunk had already been brought up thanks to the house elves and his few clothes had been added to his closet but what fascinated Ron the most was the fact he had his own office, which was as fully stocked just as Hermione and Harry's had been.

The brewing room was what fascinated him the most. No Hogwarts student, except for maybe those from very influential families had ever had their own private brewing room and Ron looked like he wanted to sing.

"You mean I can brew without Snape breathing down my neck?" He asked, looking at Harry and Hermione for conformation, his grin widening as with a simple wave of Hermione's wand, his storage room was completely stocked to the brim.

"You'll want to brew Pepper-Up, Grand Pepper-Up, Calming Draughts, a mild Sleeping Draught, and a stronger Sleeping Draught. Your time-tuner is hanging from that door handle, trust me you'll need it to get a decent night's sleep." Harry said, pointing to the inside of his supply room where Ron's time turner dangled.

Ron carefully slipped it over his head just as they heard several hoots from Ron's office, which probably meant that all the coursework that Ron had missed was now waiting for him.

* * *

After helping Ron get his potions stared Hermione attempted to make her way to her private office, she found Harry quick on her heels.

"Can I join you? I know you like quiet when you study but it'd feel weird being the only Gryffindor left in the common room surrounded by Ravenclaws." He said, grinning in her direction when she rolled her eyes and nodded her head in consent.

Entering her office, Hermione conjured a chair, to place at the second opening on her desk as she watched Harry settle in and begin working on his papers for Muggle Studies since they wouldn't take too much of his time to finish; not with all the books that were pulled from the library and had purchased that evening.

"Set a timer for eight. We'll need to get a nap before we use the time-turner to go back and start working with Miss Raven on your Ancient Runes and Arithmancy work." Hermione said before diving head first into her Muggle Studies work, wanting to get as much done as she could in one sitting so they could have it turned in by Friday as requested.

First she started on her final draft of why taking Muggle Studies was important to a full-blooded magical person but then went on to explain why it was important for a muggle-born witch or wizard to take Muggle Studies so they had an understanding of how muggles where viewed by the Wizarding World; but especially if they choose to go into Muggle Relations once they graduated from Hogwarts.

An hour into pouring over book after book, Hermione finally stopped to look at the clock, realizing that they didn't have enough hours in the day to get everything done that they needed to.

"Harry, it's almost going on eight. We aren't even halfway through what we need to be done with. How do you feel about using the time-turner and going back until we left for the bookstores and heading to the library? We can work until midnight and then use the time-turner again and go back to eight, which will be the time we reach the library and get some sleep." Hermione asked, knowing that it wasn't wise to use a time-turner like she was but it was essential if they wanted to get any sleep before they had to use the time-turner _again _to meet up Miss Raven for Harry's private study session.

"Won't we be using the time-turner too much? I thought every time you used it, it added an hour to your life?" Harry asked, remembering her mention something about it after her third year when she had attempted the same thing she was attempting now.

"Not really. I'm working on a potion that will reverse the aging effect of the time-turner but I'm still in the research process. I actually have to meet with Professor Slughorn while you're working on your Arithmancy and Ancient Runes work to go over some of the premise of the potion and spell work involved in it." Hermione said, not realizing the gravity of the statement that she was working on creating her own potion at only fifteen years of age; and would more than likely succeed.

"Mione, if you succeed in doing that you know you'll go down in the history books. It would be brilliant and you would be the person who could pull it off!" he said, pulling her into a hug in his excitement before releasing her with a wide grin.

"It will probably take me at least a year or more of just flat out research and there's really no way to know if it will work for several years and someone consistently using the time-turner to know." Hermione said, pointing out the major flaws in her plan easily. Just because she was attempting it doesn't mean it would actually work out.

"As I said, if anyone could do it, it would be you." Harry said, as he went to locate Ron. Once Ron was within the same room as them they gathered up their supplies and used the time-turner to go back far enough that they hadn't entered the common room yet and weren't anywhere near it before they quickly entered the floo network, coming out in Hogwarts Library, glad to see that Madam Pince was in her office.

"I was wondering when I would see you. I'll expect you'll be using your private study corral?" she asked, jotting down notes for something as she talked.

"Yes ma'am." Hermione said, as she was met with another large stack of books that started following them as they left her office, which caused her to look questionably at Madam Pince.

"These are your books for your Defense Against the Dark Arts paper. I didn't send your copies of the books to your common room because the other students didn't need to know that Hogwarts bought the books for you. Don't worry about them; they'll follow you all the way to the study corral. May I please see your book bags first though?" she asked, placing a few charms on them when they were handed to her.

"I have increased their capacity by tenfold, as well as a weight-less charm on them so they don't weigh as much as the books you carry in it. I have also compartmentalized them and placed a retrieval charm on them and an anti-summoning charm." She said, answering their unspoken question as she handed them back to their respective owners. "All you have to do is stick your hand over the bag and state what item you need, or what subject; be careful with the subject though, you may wind up with more books than you think you'll get." She said, laughing as if at an old memory before chasing them off to their study corral; a large stack of books floating behind them through the library at an alarmingly fast rate.

After testing out their new bag several times once they entered their private study corral they sat down to begin working on their Muggle Studies course work managing to finish all six paper rough drafts in the three hours they had, thanks to having the research material handy in front of them, just as the clock struck midnight.

Returning back to their dorms they used their time-turners again to go back to eight that evening before crawling into bed and getting four hours sleep before it was time for them to go to their private study sessions.


	15. Hermione's Potions Project

**She Walked Away  
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Hermione's Potions Project **

Quietly sneaking down the stairs they meet up in the common room at midnight before using their time-turner to go back to five am Monday morning before making their way to the third floor corridor before entering their assigned classroom for Harry's Arithmancy and **Ancient** Runes tutoring and Hermione's Potion's instruction.

Entering the classroom they found both Professor Raven and Professor Slughorn waiting for them, set up not that far from one another in a classroom that wasn't being currently used for the Advanced Revision Sessions.

"Good, you're early. Early is always good." Professor Raven said as both Harry and Hermione sat down their bags next to each other before turning to face the two professors who were in the room with them.

_Hermione's Potion Instruction_

"Now Hermione, do you have an idea of how you want to start this Potion?" Slughorn asked as they walked to the opposite side of the classroom that Harry and Professor Raven where at.

"I have some idea. What gave me the idea for the potion was the _Wolfsbane Potion _which prevents people infected with lycanthropy from changing into a werewolf; instead they change into a regular wolf and no harm comes to them. I figured the same principle could be applied to stop the aging process of the time-turner but beyond that I'm at a loss of where to start." She said, blushing at her admission which caused Professor Slughorn to laugh.

"My dear, you are attempting something no one has thought about before. I'm not surprised you're at a loss. My advice to you is this. Look at the _Wolfsbane Potion _ and see what agents are used, brew it if you have to and send it to your friend. Look at what each ingredient does in the potion. From there get a copy of _A Potion Master's Ingredient's Guide: Beyond 1,001 Magical Herbs and Fungi, _ _The Encyclopedia of Magical Ingredients _and _One Thousand and One Magical Herbs and Fungi _and see what you can create using what ingredients. The more you brew the _Wolfsbane Potion_, I think, the more you'll see the similarities on what you are trying to do. Look at magical beauty products as well, as a Potion's Master makes them, and see what are used in the anti-skin aging potions and wrinkle reducers, as well as what potion is used to reverse the _Aging Spell_. Take notes till you're blue in the face from it if you have to, but that will give you a base to start with; research time-travel through the time-turner thoroughly, and other methods, so you know exactly what you're trying to reverse. Once you compile all your notes, then start in on the experimental brewing. We'll probably use you and Harry as a test subject since you'll have used the time turner so much by the time you finish the potion. For now here is a gift card to the apothecary in Diagon Alley, Miss Matthews owns the store. She has an order waiting for you as does the apothecary in Hogsmead that has already been paid for. Go pick them up and start on your research until you catch up to real time. I have a few potions I need to brew so it wasn't unnecessary for me to use a time-turner to meet you." He said, upon seeing her embarrassed look. "Also, on the beauty potions, pick up some while you're in Diagon Alley and then brew them on your own and examine the two together. You'll need a very critical eye to tell the differences between your potions that you brew." He said, before they began the walk to the front of the castle together.

As they reached a changing stair case, he turned to speak to her once again.

"If it's alright with you, I'll come with you. I need to pick up a few orders myself that aren't safe to owl." He said; glad to see the young girl next to him nod. He could tell she was excited to get started on her project and he had a feeling she would be the one to find the cure to the curse of using a time-turner so much, even if most wizards lived to be one hundred and eighty on average.

Once outside the gates of Hogwarts Professor Slughorn took a hold of the young girl's arm before the familiar tug of Appartaion hit her and next thing she knew they were in the middle of an apothecary that she recognized as the one in Diagon Alley.

"Miss Matthews, this is the young girl I told you about that it working on the potion for a reversal of the time-turner. Hermione Granger, may I introduce you to Jessica Matthews, Potion's Mistress Extraordinary. Miss Matthews, Miss Hermione Granger." He said, glad to see that the two women would get along just fine; that was if their grins where anything to go by.

"So, Miss Granger, here is your order. There is a packing list inside of it that tells you how much you received. There are also several books in there that Professor Slughorn recommended for you on several different subjects. The Aging Process, Spell Creation, Potion Creation, Beauty Potions and things of that sort. I actually made your beauty potion's myself. There are several in fact. An anti-wrinkle cream, an eye-wrinkle cream, a retinal cream, an aging potion, the antidote to the aging potion and several face crèmes as well. There is also a book on Anti-Aging Foods which may be helpful to you. I can't even begin to go into how many potions' ingredients there are in there which is why there is a packing list for you. I have also included several thousand vials and jars and tins of various sizes for when you start making the beauty potions on your own for further experimentation. I also did some research on some of the ingredients that I complied for you that should help speed up your research progress." She said, glad to see the young girl grinning from ear to ear the longer she talked. "I've also included a few different cauldrons in there as well since we didn't know what you preferred and what your schedule would allow you to do on your own versus a self-stirring cauldron." She explained further.

"Thank you for this Professor, Miss Matthews. I'm hoping to have the basic research done by the end of this year and start on the actual potion by the start of next year." She said, giving them bare bones basic information which they appreciated.

"If you need anything else just owl me and I'll send the order to you if it's safe to owl it." She said, as her two new favorite customers left her shop with a skip in their step.


	16. Blood Quills and the Da

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Blood Quill's and DA's**

* * *

Once they returned to the castle Hermione entered the floo network that let out into her office. Glad that she was able to avoid being seen before entering her office and then crossing over to her potion's lab, getting the first good look at it since she had found out she had a potion's lab all to herself.

Pulling the manifest from the box she had received at the apothecary she entered her storage room and pulled down the inventory list, comparing the two lists with a through eye. As it turns out a lot of the ingredients were the same but it deviated about half way down her new manifest and got into the more specific herbs used for beauty, inside and out. Once she realized just how many new ingredients she had received, close to eight hundred in fact, she was stunned. She quickly got over it and began manually moving her new ingredients into her store room, watching her inventory list as it went from ten pages, to twenty, to thirty the longer she worked.

Once everything was stored she pulled her new books before adding them to her every growing library, as she had just received one hundred new books for her potion's project by itself before she settled herself into her desk to begin working on some of her school work.

Working until one in the afternoon she managed to finish all of her Muggle Studies course work which she owled in to the Professor, as well as her Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, and Herbology work which slowed her down only a little.

Once all the '_smaller' _assignments had been turned in, Hermione turned her attention to the research for her _Soul Magic _project; she would have time to work on her Potion's project once she had caught back up to real time.

As it turns out there where many, many different kinds of Soul Magic throughout the muggle and Wizarding World which was a bit disconcerting as, at times, it wasn't something to be trifled with. Soul Magic was in general, magic that involved the use of the soul. Either binding one person's soul to another, as soul mates did or bonded couples, or ejecting a person's soul from the body to travel the Astral Realm to travel the world while your body slept. From there you branched off into Soul Healing, if a person lost a piece of their soul for some reason or another. The Shaman's had a technique called '_Soul Retrieval' _which worked through Shamanic Journeying which was another technique that deviled into Soul Magic. Even the Dark Mark was considered a part of Soul Magic, as the body wouldn't accept such a tainted artifact, for lack of a better word, unless a person's heart and soul fully believed in what they were accepting and usually to receive the Dark Mark, a Death Eater had to have killed another living, breathing human being, which was revolting.

Making a mental note to ask Harry about his research for his personal Defense project to incorporate into her own project and to see if he would be interested in expanding his project to include something on Soul Magic she kept digging into the different kinds of Soul Magic that the world had to offer.

Something that was considered an Ancient Pagan art form was allowing the soul to travel while the body was awake but there were hardly any texts on it that Hermione had been able to find. A glance at her watch told her that she wasn't anywhere near the library at this time of day so she quickly gathered her list and floo'd to the library to talk to Madam Pince about a few more books.

* * *

Exiting the floo network she found Madam Pince in the Restricted Section as she spoke to her from across the rope.

"Madam Pince, I was wondering if you had any books on paganism and soul magic or soul travel?" she asked, coming across the rope when the librarian motioned her to her.

"Anything more specific than that, Miss Granger, or will general books do?" she asked, already pulling down several books from the books in front of her.

"I'd have to read through the general books to find out if I'd need anything more specific than that." She said, as it was not a subject she had researched before.

"Look into Shamanism and the Ancient Celtics then. They were both big on soul magic and meditation to help heal the soul." She said, motioning the girl to follow her again as they weaved their way in and around the stacks of the library before finding the _Ancient Religions and Civilization _sections. "You may want to look into the Sumerians as well." The librarian mused, pulling down several large tomes before handing them to the girl that was beside her. "This will give you a starting point; if you need anything more specific once you've read through them let me know and I'll see what I can find or buy as it's beyond time to update some of the books we have here. Be sure to check the appendixes and bibliographies. " She said most of the last part more to herself than Hermione, but Hermione knew that soon as a new book came in she would be the first one notified, unless it was a core subject then the professor would be notified at the same time as Hermione was.

Thanking the usually stern librarian profusely Hermione made her way back the floo network and back into her office; having only spent fifteen minutes in the library before she began devouring the books that where in front of her, dictating notes to a quill that was writing faster than she talked.

As the hours past her finished notes where piling higher and higher, but in reality, she only had a week to do the research and then she had to start on the rough draft for her essay to be able to edit it in time to get it turned in and receive a high enough grade that she was satisfied with. A look at her watch told her it was time for their DA meeting in the Room of Requirements as the students that were taking the Advanced Classes had the advantage of the time-turner and those in the regular revision courses had a free period long enough for them to go to their DA meeting.

* * *

Finding Harry and Ron waiting for her in the Common Room they made their way to the Room of Requirements glad to find Terry Boot, Lisa Turpin, Michael Connor, Cho Chang, and Hannah Abbot casually sitting around, in only groups of two, looking as if they were going over their notes together.

Once the Golden Trio entered the Room of Requirements, the other students gradually made their way into the Room of Requirements one at a time at different intervals to avoid detection.

"We're missing some of the younger Ravenclaws, Terry, Lisa?" Hermione asked, noticing that most of their first thru fourth year Ravenclaws where absent.

"Most of them received detention because they suddenly got sick in DADA for the next seven days." Lisa said, grimacing because she was worried that Headmistress Umbridge would use a Blood Quill on the younger students, who by far didn't deserve it.

"What kind of detention?" Hermione asked, scared that she already knew the answer.

"It's the only kind of detention she gives out anymore." Fred Weasley said, rubbing the back of his hand where a scar had been almost permanently etched into the flesh of his right hand.

"Right. I have some _Essence of Murlap _in my bag." Hermione said, digging around and pulling out the twelve jars of the potion that she had started brewing and carrying around since Professor Umbridge had been installed at Hogwarts. "Be sure to wait up for them they could be getting it late and they'll probably need help getting their homework done in time for tomorrow, especially if the library is closed when they get out." She said. She was glad to see that the Ravenclaws that were in attendance, agreed with her statement.

From there they started working on shielding charms as they paired off into duo's and took turns shielding and firing stinging jinxes at each other for the better part of two hours. When they finally decided to part ways for the evening Hermione pulled Lisa Turpin and Terry Boot aside after telling the assembled group that their next meeting would be on Thursday at the same time.

"Owl all the other Professors expect for Professor Umbridge and ask what was assigned for the First through Fourth Years today and yesterday and what will be assigned for homework for the next week so we can go ahead and pull the books they'll need from the library before they return. That way they can work in the common room to get their work done. I'll meet you at the Ravenclaw entrance in about forty minutes with some potions and salves for them." Hermione said, before she made her way to their shared common room with Harry and Ron hot on her heels.

"They'll need more Essence of Murlap at the least, probably a Calming Draught, a Pepper-Up potion and a Sleeping Draught if they're going to get all their work done as late as the toad is keeping them." Hermione said as they finally entered the common room that she and Harry shared before they went their separate ways into their private brewing rooms.

Hermione quickly grabbed a burlap bag that she could spare to separate with before pulling forty jars of the Essence of Murlap which would last the Ravenclaws till the end of the week. From there it was two hundred and eighty Calming Draught's, which would be enough to last the forty Ravenclaws a week as there where ten students per year that where currently in detention. She pulled the same number of Pepper-Up's and Sleeping Draught's before deciding on giving the Ravenclaws two pepper-ups to get through the day which thoroughly depleted her personal Pepper-Up collection but she had the Grand Pepper-Ups and had the capability and supplies to brew more at a moment's notice.

Finding Harry and Ron waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs to her dorm she gave them a curt nod as she made her way to the door that led out into the hallway.

"Don't wait up for me. I'll more than likely be in the Ravenclaw Common Room for a while this evening. Harry do you think you could brew some more Pepper-Up and Sleeping Draught's for me? I've depleted most of what I brewed but I have a feeling that the Ravenclaws will need it more than I will at the moment." Hermione asked.

"We'll do you one better. If I can use your Potion's Room, I'll let Ron use mine and we'll get started on creating a medical supply for the Ravenclaws. I'm going to run a bag over to the Hufflepuffs dorms though as they're in the same classes as the Ravenclaws and they said the entire class was kept." Harry said, holding up the burlap bag that he had packed as Hermione was packing the bag that she intended to deliver to Ravenclaw Tower.

"Why don't both of you go deliver those and then find out what homework the first through fourth years have? I can brew a simple Pepper-Up and Calming Draught, probably a Pain Reliving Potion and Paste as well." Ron said; glad that he could remember the potion stir for stir, turn for turn.


	17. Blood Quills and Slytherins

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Blood Quill's and of Slytherins**

* * *

Hermione found Lisa Turpin waiting for her outside of Ravenclaw Tower. Once the riddle had been answered they entered the Common Room to find all the First through Fifth Years surrounded by the Upper Level students as well as their Head of House, Professor Flitwick.

When Hermione began pulling the supplies from her bag, Professor Flitwick looked at her with a kind of respect she had never quiet been given by a Hogwarts professor before as she handed out the Essence of Murlap and explained that it would need to be used several times a day, every day, but to be careful not to bring it out in front of Professor Umbridge.

From there the potions where passed out, each student receiving a pain relieving potion, twenty-one Pepper-Up potions, and seven Sleeping Draughts.

"Use the Essence of Murlap several times a day but please do not use it in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The Pepper-Ups are to be used to help you get through your homework since she doesn't seem to intent on letting you out of her sight until nine pm in the evening. We've already owl'd all your teachers, aside from Potions and Defense and gotten your homework assignments for the week. With that your Prefects have already gathered the extra books they think you'll need to finish your projects and coursework and I intend to see if there's anything else that would help you. From there on out until Umbridge is gone it's best if you eat breakfast and lunch as quickly as you can and then immediately go to the library until it's time for classes to begin unless the Professor is willing to let you into the classroom earlier. Go to breakfast then go to your classes for the day. First and Second Year students have the largest gaps in their schedules. That being said, First Years on Friday's you either stay inside the Common Room or in the Library at all times as you have no classes on Friday. Second Years the same goes for you on Tuesdays, all you have is Defense Against the Dark Arts from eleven thirty to one. Try not to be caught in the hallways by your selves and I'd prefer you didn't go to the library by your selves either. Talk to the fifth thru seventh year students, see if maybe you can sit with them while in the library; it will give you an extra buffer and for the love of God _do not _attempt a stunt like you did today again!" Hermione said, glad to see that all the younger years agreed with her as they drank their pain relieving potion and began applying the salve to ease the engravings in their hands.

As the younger students were taking care of their pain and the injury on their hand, Professor Flitwick and Hermione struck up a conversation.

"It might be beneficial to add a brewing room here for your upper level students or even your younger year students who are good at Potions. It would help to keep a stock of most of this on hand. I doubt this will be the last time she tries to go after more students with a blood quill." Hermione said; glad to see Professor Flitwick seemed to be taken by her idea of adding a brewing room.

"It would be very beneficial I think." He said as he began to think of all that would need to be done to give his students the added protection of being able to brew their own healing potions. "I'll have it done by this evening. I assume Harry is doing, or has done, the same for the Hufflepuff students?" he asked, glad to see her nod in response. "Very well done Mrs. Granger; I believe that has earned you twenty points to Gryffindor apiece for being so well prepared." He said, winking at her as he returned forty of the points that Professor Umbridge had been taking from Gryffindor left and right.

* * *

From there a Sixth Year, Cho Chang, pulled Hermione aside, as she handed her a rather long booklist.

"This is all we can think of that could help the Year One thru Year Four students with their work since they missed their regular library hours and the assignments that have been given. Can you think of anything else off the top of your head that could help them? We really don't want them leaving the Common Room unless they have classes to go to or have to eat and even then I'm tempted to have them all eat in the Common Room." She said, giving the younger students in Ravenclaw a look that said she felt sorry for them, even if they brought it on themselves. They were just children; they didn't deserve to have a Blood Quill used on them.

"Let me make a copy of this if you don't mind and I'll have Madam Pince send the books through the floo network for you." Hermione said, already seeing a few additions that the Ravenclaws would appreciate. "This might be a good time to start preparing the Year Two students on their course selections at the end of the year as well as helping the Year Three and Four students get their essays up to OWL standard." She said, as she took the pro-offered list before she made her way out of Ravenclaw Tower and towards the library, stopping to leave a note to tell Harry where she was and what she was doing.

Upon entering the library Hermione quickly located Madam Pince and explained the predicament of both the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students. This irritated Madam Pince to no ends but there was nothing they could do about that Umbridge woman at the moment so she bit her tongue as she started gathering books by the dozen as Hermione started in on a separate section of the library, meeting Madam Pince somewhere in the middle.

"The first and second year students are going to be up all night just trying to figure out what book to find what information out of." Hermione said more to herself than Madam Pince when an idea struck her. Ever since her first year at Hogwarts, Hermione had always kept several different sets of notes.

The first set of notes where her initial reading notes that she did over the summer on every textbook which had ever been assigned. Her second set of notes branched out into more research on things she didn't fully understand from her textbook that was also done over the summer. Her third set of notes where strictly verbatim lecture notes that her _Quick Quill _always copied for her. Her fourth set of notes where research topics on topics of interest for her and her fifth and final set of notes where her research notes from her papers during her time at Hogwarts. All five sets of notes where currently situated in her office in her filing cabinet. It wouldn't take to long for her to copy them over for the other students.

Usually the homework that was assigned didn't change from year to year expect for when it was assigned which was always a plus because Hermione loved book lists. Behind every set of notes for her papers was a booklist, or reference sheet for where she had found the information.

Thanking Madam Pince for the overwhelming large stack of books that where now as small as a matchbook sitting with her school bag Hermione made her way to her private quarters before making her way into her office and finding her textbook notes and her research notes, only taking the bibliography off of her research notes, figuring the students of Ravenclaw would prefer to take their own notes than copy hers. At the last minute she grabbed her research notes and copied them, figuring the first years may actually need to use her research notes to create their own papers if their work load was as heavy as she thought it would be.

* * *

The first years had a paper to write on the moons of Jupiter for Astronomy while the third year students had to fill out a star chart which would be hard to do while attempting to avoid Professor Umbridge. That would require at least ten books just to cover a portion of the moons of Jupiter, and they were required to cover all of them. Second years had to go over the magical properties of the planets which required a lot more than the ten books that the first years would need.

Arithmancy thankfully only required number charts for Years Three thru Four but they were very complicated number charts and they also had a paper due on Magical Squares which required a minimum of six sources. Based on the minimum of six sources Hermione and Madam Pince had given them thirteen books on Magical Squares so they could have different sources instead of all the same sources as well as several Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus books for the Fourth Year students.

For Care of Magical Creatures they hadn't gotten as lucky. Third Years had to write a paper on salamanders, Hippogriffs, and the Twelve Usages and Properties of Dragon's Blood. Fourth Year's had to write a paper on Unicorns, including their usage and non-usage in potions which required just as many books as their Magical Square papers did. Their Head of House was their Charms Professor so he had offered to supplied all the books they needed for their papers to them in class since he had a rather extensive library on the subject himself.

Defense Against the Dark Arts required a ten page paper on _Defensive Magical Theory and the Art of Negotiation_ _and Non Offensive Responses _which was a really hard paper to write as there wasn't that much available on that level of Defensive Theory as it was mainly a practical class, but they would manage just fine with the books that Hermione and Madam Pince found them.

Divination had been the hardest section for Hermione to find them books for but thankfully Madam Pince had managed to scrape up enough books for those Ravenclaws that where in Divination to be able to write a paper on the history of fire omens and fire readings and for the fourth years to write a paper on the art of the star chart as well as for them to write a paper on the history of Dream Interpretation and a separate paper on Symbolism.

Thankfully for History of Magic, Professor Binn's in his old age, had assigned First thru Fourth Years the same papers to be due that week. They all had to write a paper on the fourteenth-century witch burnings as well as the medieval witch hunts and there were plenty of books on those two topics within the Hogwarts library that they would have enough books to pull several different sources from.

For Muggle Studies most students where so packed with reading that they were very grateful that Professor Charity Burbage hadn't assigned any papers for them this week as they had five hundred pages to get through in roughly four days.

Potions however was just as dreadful as always. The first years had to write a paper on boil-curing potions, as well as the Pepper-Up Potions and Forgetfulness Potions as some Hufflepuff blew up two cauldrons in one lesson. Second Years had to write a paper on Swelling Solutions and Hair Raising Potions. Third Years weren't as lucky, they had to write an essay on Undectable Potions which had to cover it from every possible angle which meant for a very long essay. Fourth Years where left with doing research on anti-dotes to bring to their next class but as every antidote was unique to each poison, they needed copious amounts of research to be able to create the correct antidote for whatever poison Professor Snape would present them with.

Transfiguration once again varied from year to year but overall papers on the science behind transfiguration, describing how Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches, and the theory behind Switching, Vanishing, and Conjuring where all topics that had to be covered which left Hermione with pulling another two books apiece for each year group per topic on top of what had already been pulled to cover their papers for those year groups that weren't allowed to leave the common rooms anymore.

* * *

Cho Chang, a sixth year Ravenclaw student, pulled Hermione aside as the younger Ravenclaws started working their way through the massive amounts of homework they had.

"There's a rumor going around that she got the Gryffindor and Slytherin classes to. I know Slytherin hasn't always been the greatest of houses but no one deserves a blood quill and I know they're to stubborn to mention it to Professor Snape if you're feeling brave enough to talk to him." She said, noticing the faraway look in Hermione's eyes as she started to exit the Ravenclaw tower before making her way back to her common room just a few steps away from their tower.

Upon finding Harry and Ron already inside the common room, she gave a sigh before turning to them again.

"There is a rumor going around that she got the Gryffindor and Slytherin students. Why don't the two of you make a trip to Gryffindor Tower and I'll go see about finding Professor Snape." She said, as she reentered her potions store room, pulling down several more containers of Essence of Murlap, as well as the Pepper-Up, Calming Draught, Grand Pepper Up and Sleeping Draughts. Knowing that even Madam Pompfrey or Professor Snape usually didn't keep such a high amount of these on them.

Making her way down into the dungeons, Hermione made her way to Professor Snape's office, glad to be able to hear him moving around inside when she knocked timidly on the door. His deep baritone voice echoed across the room and through the door as he bade her to enter the office.

"Ah…Miss Granger, to what do I owe this pleasure of a visit when I don't have to see you until the start of next term?" He asked, the shock registering on Hermione's face that he actually thought her capable of passing the OWL for her potions exam showing, even if she was the best in her year.

"Sir, Professor Umbridge has used Blood Quills on Year Four down to Year One Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws . Professor Flitwick is with his house at the moment, but he wanted me to see if you would be willing to check with the Slytherins to see if the same treatment as skimmed down to some of them." Hermione said, taking a step back when the Potions Master started to shake rather violently.

"**She. Did. What**!" It was more a statement than a question but Hermione knew he was asking for verification.

"She used Blood Quills on eighty students give or take, not counting if she used them on any Slytherins or Gryffindors. Professor Flitwick is sending out owl's this evening to the students' parents, carefully worded to make them inquire into what kinds of detentions they have severed. It would be helpful, if there was an incident, if all Heads of House could do the same." Hermione said, watching as Snape stood from behind his desk before storming out of his office, pausing when he realized she wasn't right behind him.

"Are you coming or not? Or did you just bring the bag of potions for no reason?" He asked, looking down at the burlap bag that she clutched in her hand before Hermione came out of her stupor and began briskly following the Potion's Master over to the Slytherin Common Room.

Upon entering the common room, Hermione was instantly on the receiving end of a few confused and a few hateful looks.

"Prefects, please wake up the younger year Slytherins, have everyone, and I do mean _everyone _join us in the common room." The way Professor Snape said this showed Hermione a side of him she never thought existed as his prefects scattered to obey his order, even if it was said within a nicer tone, it still demanded respect.

Once the entirety of Slytherin had made its way into the common room, Professor Snape conjured up two chairs, motioning for Hermione to take a seat in the second chair, which she did so reluctantly.

"It has come to my attention that our esteemed High Inquisitor has been using _Blood Quills_, a highly controlled artifact, on students here at Hogwarts repeatedly. If you have been on the receiving end of this I need you to be honest and come forth, the scars will never fade if not treated correctly. With that being said, every single one of you that is a member of the Inquisitor Squad will cease and desist your participation in that _club _immediately. If you choose not to head my warning, you will find yourself without a house while you are at Hogwarts and a very hard time attempting to pass your Potions coursework." He said, paling even more as almost the entirety of his first, second and third year students stood from where they had been sitting along with several of his older students.

Hermione, having come prepared, began handing out what potions she had brought as she ran through them with the younger students who were unfamiliar with them. When one of the younger first year students started crying, Hermione, not thinking twice about it, pulled the young girl into her lap as the little first year clung to her tighter.

"There. There. It'll be okay. The toad won't be with us much longer after this." Hermione said, running her hand down the young girls black hair as the girl clung to her even tighter as Hermione looked up to address the gathered students in the Slytherin Common Room.

"Do not go anywhere alone, especially if you're Year Three and under. Go down to breakfast, lunch, and dinner in groups; escort them to their classes. If someone in their Third Year or above has a free period while they have DADA it may do good to have someone outside of the classroom, because I know the eight of you," Hermione said, motioning to the older students who had had the blood quill used on them, "did it to keep her off the younger years. Professor Flitwick is going to send home a letter stating he is worried about the students that have had the quill used on them without mentioning the quill. That he's worried about the number of detentions they've been serving and to allow the parents to make the inquiry. The goal is to have enough parents in the right position to make uproar and to have gotten rid of her before the start of our last term and owl testing. If it's done right, she won't set foot outside of a wizarding prison for at least ten years. "

It seemed as if a collective sigh went around the room as the members of Slytherin house slowly but surely removed their badges that had _High Inquisitors Squad _on them including, surprisingly enough, Draco Malfoy and his two goons.


	18. Responses and Strange Letters

**CHAPTER NINETEEN Responses and Strange Letters**

* * *

Later that evening Professor Snape was sitting in his office writing the last of the letters out to his Slytherins parents. It had been tactfully worded, just stating that he was worried about this student or that student, it seemed they spent a lot of time in detention this year but that wasn't their usual style since they had started here at Hogwarts and that they seemed to have some trouble concentrating in class, which wasn't always the case, before sending the letters off in batches through the use of Hogwarts post owls.

Within two hours the first of the replies came swooping into his office at an alarming rate, the most notable being from Pansy Parkinson's father, as she had been one of the first Slytherin Blood Quill victims.

_I am appalled that such a woman would be allowed to teach at Hogwarts. There will be consequences for this Dolorous Umbridge. I have a meeting with the ministry within the hour. You may want to keep an eye on the evening or morning edition of the Daily Prophet as the Most Ancient and Noble Houses, including Madam Longbottom where in attendance for a meeting and seem to have caught the attention of the right reporter and as you know Madam Longbottom is a force to be reckoned with, even if she does not uphold the extreme pureblood values._

Looking at the clock that was sitting on his fireplace mantle the time showed to be eleven in the morning, he was sure that breakfast in the Great Hall would be worth attending. Pulling out a piece of parchment Professor Snape sent off a letter to the man who was heading up the regular and Advanced OWL & NEWT revisions inquiring if their timetable could be adjusted to allow them to eat breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning.

Upon receiving a reply in the positive he quickly penned a note to Hermione.

_Miss Granger,_

_You should be receiving a letter from the head of the revision sessions stating that you are to attend breakfast in the Great Hall tomorrow. I believe it will be well worth your while, I do hope you subscribe to the Daily Prophet, if not I will send you my copy when I finish reading it during the middle of breakfast. I would like to meet with both you and Potter at some point tomorrow. Use your time –turners after your last lesson and meet me at my office at eight am, be sure to bring your Pepper-Up Potions._

_Professor Snape,  
Potions Instructor &  
Potions Master_

* * *

Hermione looked over the letter she had received from Professor Snape as well as the Head of Revisions, smirking as she placed them both into her leather bound journal before turning to those she shared a common room with.

"It would definitely be in our best interest to go to the Great Hall for breakfast tomorrow, don't you think?" Hermione said, pulling the letter she had received from Professor Snape out and passing it around the small group of friends she had made through her revision session.

One by one as they read the letter, smiles, or rather smirks, covered their faces as they voiced their agreement that breakfast the next day would be more than worth attending.

Satisfied with the amount of work she had finished for the day, Hermione decided that her bi-weekly ritual bath was well in order for the evening as she started the taps running, turning two special taps, one that helped with stress reduction and the other to add pink bubbles to her bathwater as well as the smell of menthol which helped her relax before she carefully wiped off the small amount of makeup she wore before stripping and folding her clothes neatly before placing them in her dirty laundry hamper and entering the hot bath water, allowing it to ease the aches of her body.

Running through the rest of her skin and hair routine took Hermione nearly an hour but the results she achieved where always worth the time it took before she slipped into a satin nightgown that she loved the feel of before allowing herself to rest as she downed a vial of her Sleeping Draught.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

Tuesday found Hermione awake at four am as she started her morning routine. After brushing her teeth and using a mouthwash she massaged the skin of her face before moving onto underneath her eyes. Applying a small amount of a de-frizzing crème that her mother kept her in stock with, she worked it through her hair before moving onto a de-frizzing potion which got the last bit of frizz out of her hair. From there a small bit a mousse was added to her hair before she pulled it back into a tight braid, wanting it out of the way for the day.

After changing into her last clean set of Hogwarts robes she started the process of gathering her books for the day, which was a larger number than usual, slowly filing them into her book bag. Next came a few packets of index cards, a thick stack of parchment, as well as three ink wells and five quills incase the nub of her quill decided to break during the course of the day.

Next she entered her potion's work room, pulling out several Pepper-Up and Grand Pepper-Up Potion's as well as a few Calming Draught's although she had yet to have to use one since she had made them previously, she placed them inside a vial carrying case, slipping it inside her school bag before she made her way downstairs to the common room they all shared.

Upon entering the common room she wasn't surprised to see Terry and Lisa sitting at a small table she hadn't noticed the day before both working on a cup of tea and coffee at the same time, while reviewing some notes they had taken although Hermione couldn't be sure what the notes were from.

Upon seeing Hermione up so early, Lisa poured her a cup of tea before sliding it, and the cream and sugar bowl over to her with a smile as she set down a pepper-up potion next to the tea cup.

"How is your research going for the individual Defense Against the Dark Arts project?" she asked as she watched Hermione take a strong sip from her tea cup, sighing in contentment.

"It's actually going real well. There is so much out there on soul magic that's it's unbelievable. Of course you have your good and your bad. I think I had close to three hundred pages of just notes by the time I finished last night so I'm going to have to find a way to narrow down what is relevant to the paper or what is most important to the paper as all the professor wanted was a fifteen page paper." She said; glad to see that they too had taken copious amounts of notes as they held up the stacks they were looking over.

"Same here; he gave us broad enough topics that there was plenty of research material available to the point we'd have to narrow down our topics." Lisa said, before pulling her blonde hair into a high ponytail and securing it with a ponytail holder before returning to her tea.

"I believe it is time to head to breakfast; I'm sure none of us want to miss the show." Terry said as he stood and picked up his book bag as well as Lisa's while Anthony did the same for his and Padma's. When Harry attempted to pick up Hermione's he was met with a look that said 'don't even try' before she slung her bag over her own shoulder as they started making their way to the Great Hall.

Breakfast had barely begun as they divided up and went to their usual house tables with promises to meet up after what was sure to be an eventful breakfast. Well into Hermione's third cup of tea, the Great Hall had filled up considerably, with most of the student body being present, just as she heard the tell-tale screech of the mail coming through the open windows.

As most students opened their Daily Prophet the noise level in the Great Hall increased tremendously, as Dolorous Umbridge sat sipping her tea, none the wiser that half the student body, as well as a few teachers that weren't heads of house where sneaking glances at her.

Thirty minutes before breakfast was due to end and their first class of the day was due to start, the doors to the Great Hall where thrown open as Ministry Fudge entered surrounded by Kingsley, Tonks, and several other Auror's that Harry didn't recognize.

"Dolorous Umbridge, you are under arrest for the use of a highly controlled artifact against the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He said, his voice rather grave as Kingsley and Tonks started moving towards the head table at an alarming speed.

Umbridge rose, giving the little cough that many of the students at Hogwarts had come to hate, but she was standing stone still after she stood up.

"Excuse Minister, I'm sure I miss heard you, I am under arrest?" she asked, in a tone that stated 'clearly this must be some kind of joke'.

"That is correct Miss Umbridge. You are here by stripped of your title as Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic and are under arrest for the use of a highly controlled artifact against underage wizards." Kingsley Shacklebolt said, just as cheers erupted in the Great Hall as she was frog marched out of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It seemed things at Hogwarts had gotten much brighter.

The day seemed to pass by rather slowly until finally they had finished their last class of the evening. Harry and Hermione excused themselves rather early that evening, at seven forty five, saying that they wanted to work on some potions in Hermione's brewing room.

Once away from prying eyes they gathered as many of their potions texts as they thought they could possibly need before they used their time-turner to return to seven forty five that morning, leaving them time to make it down to Professor Snape's personal office.

"What do you think Snape wants?" Harry asked, shifting Hermione's bag onto his shoulder as they walked the length of the castle to reach the dreaded dungeons.

"I don't know. He just said to use the time-turner and to meet him in his office." Hermione said as they finally descended the last staircase that led them into the dungeons. Finding Professor Snape's office wasn't that hard but for Harry to bring himself to knock on the door however, was almost a Herculean task which caused Hermione to roll her eyes before she knocked daintily on the door.

Upon hearing the overgrown bat call out enter they walked into his office, surprised to find it as neat as it was, although they weren't quite sure what they had expected to find. Other than a stack of old Potions Weekly and Monthly journals stacked in a bookcase that looked like a soft wind could blow over, it was just like any other teacher's office, albeit darker due to the lack of sun light.

Professor Snape was looking over a stack of papers that looked like it was going to fall over with a light breeze, the length of the essay told them that it could very well be the Year Five paper they had done of the Theory of Common Poisons which had been a monster to write.

"Sit." He said, motioning to the two chairs that where in front of his desk which they obediently sat in without so much as a glance in each other's direction.

"Potter, your Occulumency lessons are not going well. You have yet to succeed in blocking me. It made me take a second look over some of your potions work as well as several of your essays since you have been here at Hogwarts. Did you know that while your theoretical work has gotten a lot better since First Year, your brewing has gotten progressively worse?" he asked, looking down at Harry from his crocked nose as he pulled his loose hair back into a low ponytail.

"No sir, I didn't." Harry said, surprised they were even having this conversation.

"The change happened shortly after you met Miss Granger. Can you think of anything that changed after you met her in regards to your school work or potions in general?" He asked shifting his gaze from Harry to Hermione, giving her permission to chime in.

"No sir, I can't think of anything thing…" Harry said, trailing off at a loss of what Professor Snape was looking for.

"I do.." Hermione said, losing herself in thought for a moment as both men looked at her before she came out of her memory. "You weren't following the instructions. You said you were going off a feeling you had."

This caused Professor Snape to almost leap forward over his desk as he accidently knocked over a goblet he had been drinking from, pulling his wand out he quickly vanished the liquid before drying the bottom half of the stack of parchments he was grading.

"Well, that certainly changes things, and it explains why I've had trouble teaching you Occulumency." He mused, more to himself than to the two teens in front of him before he suddenly turned to Hermione. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say you have the same '_feeling'_ but ignore it due to your penchant to follow the instructions, am I correct?"

Hermione blushed before she nodded her head sharply, agreeing with his statement.

He didn't say anything else, just stood from behind his desk before making his way into a second room they hadn't noticed before stopping in the doorway.

"Well, aren't you coming?" he asked, doing his best to keep the sneer out of his voice as both teenagers jumped to their feet to quickly follow their Potions Master into the next room as he started pulling a few books down from his personal collection.

Finding several blank journals, he copied the texts over to the empty pages at an alarming rate before handing Hermione and Harry eight, rather thick, leather bound books.

"Start with _A Potion's Masters Affinity. _What you have is called an affinity. It other words you both are highly attuned to your magical core and thus try to follow the pull of the magic when creating potions. If you were creating a potion from scratch, that is one that has _never _been created before it would work wonderfully for you, but because you are following a tried and true 'recipe' for a lack of a better word, it tends to mess up your potion. The book will teach you how to control the pull of your magical core as well as how to tap in deeper to your magical core without draining yourselves and everyone around you. After that find a copy of _Cassandra Emory_: _A Potion's Mistresses Journey _and _Potions and Concoctions Created By Cassandra Emory_ it actually wouldn't be too far-fetched to just say to read everything written about and by Cassandra Emory. She was the last person to have a true magical affinity but for now focus on the eight books I've given you and the two I've mentioned. It should help you with your potions work. While working through the potions book start in on _Beginner Meditations _and _Guided Meditations _although for the guided meditations you'll have to do them together. You have your own potion labs correct?" He asked, as he lead them further into his private study and then through another door which lead to his private storeroom and labs.

"Yes sir." Hermione said, watching as he moved through his storeroom pulling things down seemingly at random before placing them in a burlap sack. The sack never seemed to bulge as he added more and more supplies before he suddenly stopped.

"You'll receive an owl as soon as I get to my classroom and can pull more supplies from the school's potion store room for now work your way through the meditations and the first book and then attempt to brew a pepper-up potion, both of you. Let me know what the difference is and be sure to journal it. There hasn't been a true affinity in hundreds of years and yet I have two in my classroom." He said the last part as if in shock and more to himself than to either Harry or Hermione as they took the sack and the books he had given them as they made their way back through his study, before he stopped and handed them two rather thick grimoires to get them started on their journal process before dismissing them with a wave of his hand as he moved to pour himself a fire whiskey, it had been a shocking day all around.


	20. Chapter 20

_A Potion's Masters Affinity_ turned out to be a rather interesting book to Hermione, and surprisingly enough, even to Harry. In the first chapter it had gone all the way back to ingredient preparation, showing them the proper way to get juice out of fava beans and other magical ingredients that they constantly used within their potions making. It had even shown the difference between a dice, a chop, and a mince, which would have really been helpful in Harry's first year at Hogwarts by leaps and bounds.

From there it had gone into extreme detail on the standard curriculum the world used for potions courses and then showed how Beauxbatons, Dumstrung, Hogwarts, and Salem all differed when it came to the curriculum which was by a lot. Salem and Dumstrung allowed for students to 'test out' of a certain years coursework if they could prove they had mastered a certain list of spells, potions, incantations, or flat out memorization. From there they could move up to the next level. If they happened to finish one subject before it was time for them to graduate, they could choose from elective courses.

What interested Hermione the most as all other schools offered, no required, students to take Magical Theory _and _Spell Creation during their entire seven years, or more, while at the school and even started their students earlier. Most schools started their students at the age of eight, only having them come during the summer months before sending them home with mile long booklists, homework charts, and study guides to continue their studies under their parents watchful eye until they were old enough to start boarding school at the tender age of eleven.

It made Hermione wonder why Hogwarts didn't adopt such a policy but what was done was done and there was nothing she could do about it, yet. She had strongly considered going into Magical Education at the Ministry, she always thought that the classes weren't hard enough or targeted enough, such as their Defense Against the Dark Arts course.

Cassandra Emory had been born after the founders by only twenty years and had been educated at home by her mother, a woman of rather high status who didn't want her daughter to be an uneducated simpleton like most court woman of those days where. Cassandra's education started at the age of eight, studying Magical Theory, Latin, Greek, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Divination, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures and Potions, none of which required wand work. From five am until eleven pm she studied dutifully and wrote down her daily studies in a journal which is why so much was known about such a talented witch.

From the time Cassandra received her wand at the age of twelve she was almost unstoppable. She studied everything she could get her hands on, devouring the books her father purchased for her studies and waiting impatiently for her newest orders to arrive as she distracted herself from her impatience by brewing countless potions.

After several pages mentioning Cassandra and other great Potioneers of their time, it moved onto discussing a person's magical core. The book itself was somewhat set up like a workbook because after the chapter on a person's magical core, it held a twenty question quiz and then a list of _Required Reading _and then _Recommended Reading _followed by two whole pages of assignments that turned Harry somewhat pale.

"Honestly Harry, it's not that bad. Just do the _Required Reading_ and two of the papers to make sure you have a basic understanding of it. It's not like we're getting graded on it, even though in a way we are because your affinity is affecting your ability in potions." She said, writing down the books that where listed under the Required Reading heading before skipping around in the book to the end of each chapter, copying the Required & Recommended Reading lists before moving onto the two pages of assignments per section or chapter depending on where she was at in the book.

"Harry, can I borrow Hedwig? I want to send this off to _Flourish and Blott's_?" Hermione asked as she dug around in her pocket, pulling out several galleons to send along with her order, glad when Harry nodded his head in agreement before Hermione made her way to the owlery with the use of Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

Apparently _Flourish and Blott's _wasn't rather busy this early in the morning because their order came back to them within the hour, shrunken to avoid harming Hedwig and to make it easier for her to transport.

Unshrinking the books, Hermione pulled the one titled _The Magical Core for Beginners _to her before setting the others to the side as she settled into the couch to give Harry enough room to read over her shoulder as they stared working their way through the rather thick tome.

"Is there a way to test for core strength?" Harry asked suddenly when they were only an eighth of the way through the book.

"I'm sure there is but I haven't come across anything yet." Hermione said, shifting herself so that she was leaning slightly against Harry so he could see the book better as his arm worked its way around her shoulder as they continued reading.

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The further Hermione dug into soul magic for her Defense Against the Dark Arts project, the more she kept running across a reference to something known as a Horcrux but she wasn't able to find any more concerning the matter in the Hogwarts Library; even when she asked Madam Pince about it Hermione was met with a stone wall and the explanation that much wasn't known about a Horcrux other than it was Soul Magic but it had never been written down, only passed down orally and that much of the information had been lost or was guarded behind tightly sealed lips.

Taking Madam Pince's word for law she put the Horcrux out of her mind as she worked day in and day out to keep up with the ever increasing work load they were receiving the closer they got to taking their OWL's.

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Before any of them knew it the time for their OWL's had snuck up on them with furiousness that was not expected by many of the fifth year students.

The weekend leading up to the OWL's found many students crammed into the libraries as they had finished the last of their review sessions on Friday, expect for those that were taking the Advanced Revision Sessions who finished the last of their schedule on Saturday at noon to get one more day in on brewing and several of their classes.

As soon as their last class let out for the day they made their way to the library, but upon seeing it thoroughly packed to bursting as nearly every fifth and seventh year student was crammed inside, attempting to cram as much last minute knowledge into their heads as they could it was decided to retire to their personal common room where it was much less stressful and the Great Hall wasn't much better.

Upon entering the common room they found a light lunch waiting for them underneath a warming charm, more than likely curtsey of Dobby, who had taken to feeding them as often as they would allow.

"We still have a day and a half before OWL's start." Lisa mused as she poured herself a cup of tea before doing the same for her friends.

"I say we've more than studied enough. If you want to study keep it light because you don't want to stress yourself out." Terry said, giving Padma and Hermione a pointed look; they were known for stressing over the small things, even if they did exceptionally well on tests.

"Well with that being the case I'm going to get started on a few potions I want to review besides the fact they'll be useful to us." Hermione said, more to herself and Harry than anyone else in the room.

Taking this as a hint to follow Harry quickly followed her into her office and then her brewing room as she started pulling ingredients down by the handful, lining them up along the table as she went through a mental checklist within her head.

"What are we working on?" Harry asked, he couldn't place the ingredients to any one potion at the moment, but that could mean she was gathering ingredients for more than one potion.

"A blood-replenishing potion, bruise removal paste, burn slave, the burning bitter root balm and a burn healing paste. If it wasn't so close to OWL's I'd be working on attempting to work on my anti-aging potion for the effects of the time-turner but I figured it'd be better to leave that until this summer." She said, as she started in on the blood-replenishing potion.

Harry just nodded before he began working on the burning bitter root balm and the burn healing paste, having pulled down Hermione's copy of _Healing Potions, Balms, and Slaves _which she had acquired at some point during her time at Hogwarts.

Upon finding the directions for the first potion, the burning bitter root balm, he looked through the ingredients that Hermione had laid out before pulling the porcupine quills and snake fangs to him as well as several other ingredients such as basil, thyme and the root of a plant that Harry had forgotten the name of. Not under the scrutiny of Professor Snape Harry found that brewing potions was a lot more of a relaxing experience that it could ever be in the potions classroom.

Shaking his head to clear it of such distracting thoughts he then turned his attention to the burn healing paste as he lost himself in the potion preparations. Turning back to the basics once he finished the two potions he had initially started he started a batch of nutrient potions, figuring it wouldn't be a bad thing to have the wizarding world's equivalence of a multi-vitamin supplement on hand as well as several cleansing potions that were meant to relieve constipation, clear the blood, act as a diuretic and flush the system respectively.


	21. Chapter 21

Fifth Year Comes to an End

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I'm stopping this portion here. This wasn't even the main part of the originally story, with **that **being said. The sequel will go up later today maybe tomorrow where **they all **play a rather equal roll **which was the plan to begin with.**

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Hermione and Harry found that their examination schedule was rather enjoyable considering they only had one subject per day for the first full five days of testing. Even on the second week they didn't have a double schedule until Harry had his Divination and Arithmancy test at the same time. Hermione had opted to take the International Ordinary Wizarding Level's which had her taking her Divination test on Friday after her last regular OWL which as History of Magic. Unfortunately, Ron hadn't studied as hard as he probably should have, which was nothing new, and he was emitting stress to the point that Professor McGonagall had sent him to Madam Pompfrey, not wanting him to know just how much Pepper-Up potion that Harry and Hermione still had stored, as they had opted to brew several more batches over the course of the last month so as to add to their stock for when summer came.

Students other than the fifth and seventh years had their finals left to take which left the castle still in an uproar but not as bad as the two months leading up to their OWL's and NEWT's when it was considered even dangerous to talk to a fifth or seventh year student in fear of one's personal health, as several had broken down and thrown a spell at a student that was talking, walking, or breathing to loudly.

Once their last test was taken that Friday, Hermione started the process of packing up her room. All the books where pulled out of her office and added into the book compartment of her trunk before she gathered her supplies from her desk, placing them all into one large box which she shrank before placing it in the last compartment of her trunk.

From there she moved onto her brewing room. Deciding it was best to start in her overly stocked storage room she began the slow process of placing the bottles and various jars of potions supplies into boxes before placing the boxes into her trunk and within two hours she had her storage room completely boxed, labeled and added to her personal trunk. From there she moved onto the cupboards within her brewing room which contained vial upon vial of finished potions which were placed into carrying cases, up to one hundred vials per case before they were placed in the same compartment as her the potions.

Once the finished potions where added, she gathered the numerous cauldrons, stirring rods, and Bunsen burners to the correct compartment before she moved onto her bedroom, taking the time to lay out an outfit for the train ride home before waving her wand as her clothes started folding them shelves and adding them shelves to her trunk at a rapid speed.

Moving onto her bathroom she boxed up all of her personal hair and beauty supplies, which thankfully fit in one box, before they were also added to her trunk which latched itself with a wave of her wand.

Looking around at the rooms she had occupied for the last several months she found she was going to miss having her own personal brewing room and a library that could be expanded as large as she could ever wish for before she made her way out into the Common Room, not surprised to find Harry sitting in the couch that sat in front of the fire place, looking as pensive as she had ever seen him.

He never liked leaving Hogwarts and returning to the Dursleys. If he had his way he would stay at Hogwarts year round just to avoid going back to the family that had done a very poor job of raising him and hated anything to do with magic.

Ron on the other hand had decided to leave his packing until the morning, which earned him an earful from Hermione who then proceeded, with the help of Harry, to get Ron's room packed up in less time than it had taken her to pack up as he didn't have a personal library or brewing room to pack and was still living within Gryffindor Tower.

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Before long the next morning came and it was time to board the Hogwarts Express and head back to their homes; something Harry always dreaded with a passion. Thankfully they had almost a whole day before they reached King's Crossing Station which allowed Harry, Hermione, and Ron to find an empty compartment and spend the rest of the time goring on sweets and talking to one another.

"Something is coming Ronald. The Ministry finally acknowledges Lord Voldemort's return. There's something their keeping out of the papers or it hasn't reached the ears of the magical world yet." Hermione said for what felt like the hundredth time on the ride back to their respective homes.

"We would have seen something in the newspapers." He said, stressing his point through his unnatural passion and punctuation that he placed in his wording.

Hermione rolled her eyes which caused Harry to stifle a laugh before giving Hermione a small smile; he knew she was right. It was why he had practically killed himself trying to pass every single OWL that had been offered at Hogwarts.

The rest of the ride was spent with idle chatter about their summer plans and before they knew it they were at King's Crossing, exiting the train. Ron just waved as he met his siblings and his parents before Hermione crushed herself to him in a hug which he returned, pressing a kiss into her hair.

"Thank you for everything this year Mione. It meant a lot." He said, feeling guilty that she had been forced to write lines with a Blood Quill like he had; unfortunately it was still craved across her hands but faint enough that her parents wouldn't notice it, or so she hoped. The rest of the school year had been rather hard, even though Harry had somewhat mastered Occulumency thanks to the meditations Snape had started him on. It hadn't been enough, Lord Voldemort had used the connection they had against him and because of it, Harry's godfather, Sirius had fallen through the veil in the Department of Ministries.

"You're worth it Harry. One day you'll believe that." She said, return the kiss into his hair before she pulled back just as her parents walked up. It wouldn't do for her father to see her wrapped in what could be considered an intimate hug with a boy, even if that boy was her best friend of five years.

"See you in July." He said, squeezing her hand one more time before they went their separate ways for the summer.


End file.
